


Mistletoe and Wine

by My_Trex_has_fleas



Series: Folie A Deux [10]
Category: Poldark - All Media Types, Return to Treasure Island (TV 1996)
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Blood and Gore, Christmas, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Murder Family, Murder Husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-09-09 02:23:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8871967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Trex_has_fleas/pseuds/My_Trex_has_fleas
Summary: It's Christmas in New York and the Folie boys have visitors.





	1. Unexpected Visitors

Ross wandered through the halls of Bergman’s, eyeing up possible Christmas presents and contemplating what Jim might like. He wasn’t exactly difficult to buy for, but Ross always liked to try and surprise him. It was very festive, the department store festooned with red and silver and green, and Ross enjoyed this very much. He had always felt like it was more Christmassy in New York than in England, although he did miss the magnificence of celebrations at the chateau with Mathilde. 

Next to him, Cilla did the same as she spoke a mile a minute, regaling him with stories from her weekend. She’d been seeing someone fairly regularly for her and he was loaded. He was also connected to some of the seedier things in life and Cilla was thoroughly enjoying playing gangster’s moll. This man lavished her with gifts and money and more drugs than she could put up her nose at any one time and it was also the source of some rather insane stories. Just the night before, he’d taken her out to the house of an associate on Long Island and dinner had turned into an orgy. Ross had first thought she meant an orgy of excess until Cilla had pointed out that she meant the word in the literal sense. 

‘It was wild.’ She was positively gleeful when she said this. ‘You really should have been there. You would have had fun.’

‘Not if your kind of fun was the only option.’ Ross laughed. ‘Christ the last time I was intimately acquainted with a vagina was that time I fingered Elizabeth behind the stables, and I am still trying to recover from the psychological trauma.’

‘Charming.’ Cilla said then cackled. ‘No, a couple of the guys like to swing both ways apparently.’

‘Still, you know I don’t play away.’ Ross said. ‘Not, when I have a husband with the best fucking cock in New York.’ He stopped briefly to check over a shelf full of the outrageously expensive kind of gadgets one got the man who had everything. ‘I have far better ways to get my kicks.’

‘What, like trying to decide what kind of cheese to take to your next meeting of the boring married people?’ Cilla snorted. ‘Fuck that. I’m talking about fun, Ross. You know, like you used to be before you got hitched.’

‘I’m still fun.’ Ross protested. ‘It’s just not the kind of fun that’s going to get me arrested or harbouring an STD.’ He hid his smile though, thinking about just how diverting his time with Jim could be, especially when they were in a killing mood. 

‘Christ, all I am asking for is one fucking night.’ Cilla said. ‘You could come with me, let you introduce you around. Gino knows a whole lot of industry types and he’s having a huge party next weekend. You don’t even have to do any of the funny stuff. Just come and look pretty on my arm and make Gino jealous enough that he’ll tie me up and face fuck me.’ She took his arm and gave him her best wheedling smile. ‘You could even bring Jim at a push.’

‘I don’t know.’ Ross said. ‘Getting dicked by ten different guys? Maybe not such a fun night out for me.’

‘Only because you’ve been de-clawed.’ Cilla said. ‘Come on, Ross. One fucking night. Please?’ She fluttered her eyelashes at him and Ross gave in. 

‘Fine, I’ll ask him.’ he said. ‘But he’s probably going to say no.’

‘That’s because he’s got this ‘middle-aged before my time’ vibe going on.’ Cilla said. ‘I sometimes wonder just what the fuck you two have in common, Jim’s huge cock notwithstanding.’ Ross threw back his head and barked with laughter. 

‘You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you.’ he replied. ‘And it’s not like he chains me to the bed.’ His smile grew wicked. ‘Not unless I beg him to.’

‘One night.’ Cilla repeated. ‘I miss my wingman.’

‘You mean you miss the person who used to hold your hair back while you puked and stopped you from overdosing.’ Ross said. Cilla gave him a brilliant smile and the finger guns.

‘Exactly.’ she replied.

***********

Ross broached the subject at dinner that night. Jim had come home in a creative mood and hauled out his birthday present. Ross sat on the counter and watched him dispatch a shoulder pf lamb with the filleting knife, getting all hot and bothered at how efficiently he was deboning it and kicking his heels against the cupboard underneath him. The apartment was already decorated with a simple evergreen tree and extremely tasteful decorations, all glass and hand-made, which had been chosen by Jim. The fire was lit and they were already halfway through a bottle of red, the Rat Pack crooning carols in the background. The lads were asleep on the rug in front of the fire and it was all very snug.

‘I certainly won’t be accompanying you.’ Jim said. ‘You know how much I hate being sociable when it’s people I don’t know. And I loathe Christmas parties.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ Ross leaned over and stole one of the baby carrots Jim had set aside. He crunched it happily. ‘But if I don’t go, Cilla will castrate me.’

‘So go.’ Jim said. ‘I’m not stopping you.’

‘No.’ Ross said. ‘But I miss you when I go out without you. It’s more fun when you’re with me. And we can laugh at the appalling décor.’ Jim gave him a sidelong glance and sighed.

‘Who is this guy she’s seeing again?’ he asked and Ross grinned, knowing he was very close to getting his way.

‘His name’s Gino.’ he replied and got a raised eyebrow. 

‘Gino.’ Jim said. ‘That’s it? He’s just got the one name?’

‘I don’t know what his surname is.’ Ross replied. ‘I don’t even think Cilla knows.’

‘And this place you want us to go to?’ Jim asked.

‘It’s a house of a friend of his, some place out on Long Island.’ Ross replied. ‘It’s dinner and some mild shenanigans afterwards.’ Now Jim stopped cutting and looked at him.

‘What kind of shenanigans?’ he asked and Ross shrugged. 

‘Maybe some group sex, but she said we definitely do not have to join in. Apparently he also has a pool table.’ he said and this got dimples.

‘Well, thank fuck for that.’ Jim’s sarcasm was light, but very much in evidence. ‘What would we do without a pool table?’ 

‘I know.’ Ross said. ‘But she is my best friend and this is kind of as close as she’s ever got to having a boyfriend.’ He gave Jim a pleading look. ‘Come on, babe. Please?’ He knew he was pulling the exact same con that Cilla had pulled on him, but it was very effective with Jim and getting what he wanted. 

‘Christ Almighty.’ Jim sounded disgusted. ‘The fucking things I do for you.’

‘Because you love me.’ Ross was now smug, knowing that he had it in the bag. ‘And because you would do anything for me.’

‘That is unfortunately very true.’ Jim said. ‘We can go.’ 

‘Thank you.’ Ross hopped off the counter and went over to wrap his arms around Jim from behind. He stuck his nose in the back of Jim’s neck and got a stifled snort of laughter. ‘Have I mentioned that I love you?’

‘You'd better.’ Jim replied, picking up the knife again. ‘I don’t go to random people’s houses for Christmas parties for just anyone.’

‘Well, hopefully what I bought you for Christmas will make up for it.’ Ross said and kissed the side of Jim’s neck, pleased when Jim tilted his head to let him get in behind his ear. 

‘Oh?’ Jim said. ‘That sounds promising.’ He put the knife down and turned in Ross’ arms and let Ross kiss him. Ross smiled against his mouth and pushed his luck just a little and was rewarded with a flick of tongue and a catch of breath. He reached up, catching Jim by the back of the neck and pressed in. Jim responded readily and Ross pinned him up against the kitchen counter and started running his hands down Jim’s sides, destined for his backside. 

That was when the doorbell rang.

They broke apart and looked at each other and then at the door. Zeus and Apollo were already up, barking and trotting over to the front door. 

‘Are you expecting anyone?’ Jim asked and Ross shook his head. 

‘No.’ he replied. ‘Who would be visiting me?’

‘In that case, this is rather odd.’ Jim moved out from his grasp and walked over to the hallway. Ross followed him, curiosity building as he came up behind him. Jim went to the intercom and pressed the button.

‘Hello?’ It sounded cautious and Ross grinned as a loud voice boomed through from outside. 

‘For fuck’s sake lad, will you open the bloody door? I am freezing my arse off out here and Flint’s about to knock the cab driver’s block off because he thinks he overcharged us.’ 

The look of surprise on Jim’s face was one Ross adored because he very seldom got to see it. 

‘Dad?’ he asked and that in itself showed how disconcerted he was. Jim almost never called Silver ‘Dad’. 

‘Well, it’s not the bloody Queen.’ Silver said, sounding extremely grumpy. ‘Now open the door and let us in.’ Jim buzzed the entry door open and then unlocked the front door in time to see two heavily wrapped figures coming into the entry hall. He stood aside as they came in, the lads barking frantically and hopping around on their short legs. Silver dropped his bag, pulling off his gloves and the beanie that was pulled down to almost over his eyes, revealing his blue-grey eyes and weather beaten face. He’d grown a beard and it was a thick mix of light brown and silver hair, neatly trimmed. 

‘Ross.’ he said, smiling and pulled Ross into a rough hug. As he was doing this, the second figure came in and did the same, revealing a pair of twinkling grey eyes and dark auburn hair. To their amusement, they noticed that he too had grown a beard. 

‘Hello boys.’ he said and now it was Jim’s turn to be enfolded. 

‘What the hell are you two doing here?’ he asked, half muffled by Flint’s massive coat. 

‘You hear that?’ Silver said to Ross. ‘No ‘Why how wonderful to see you, Father. We are delighted you came to visit.’ No, instead it’s all suspicion and wariness.’

‘That’s because he’s your son.’ Flint replied, letting Jim go and taking his face in his hands. ‘We’re here because your father decided to do all his travelling in one shot.’

‘Huh?’ Jim looked confused and Ross couldn’t help snorting at him. ‘What travelling? I didn’t know you were travelling.’

‘I don’t tell you everything, boy.’ Silver said and came over. ‘Now come here and give your father a hug.’ He held out both arms and Jim started moving towards him and then stopped dead. His eyes widened and then narrowed and he grabbed Silver’s left hand and stared at the minimalist white gold band on Silver’s ring finger. 

‘No fucking way.’ he said and then turned to see Flint holding up his left hand with an identical ring on it. ‘You fucking didn’t.’

‘Congratulate us, Jim.’ he said, his eyes twinkling madly. ‘Your father has finally made an honest man out of me.’

‘How the fucking fuck did that happen?’ Jim looked and sounded absolutely astounded. Ross was now laughing at the fact that he’d never seen him look so bemused in his life. 

‘Las Vegas.’ Flint said, like that explained everything. He was bent slightly, patting the dogs who had resorted to pathetic whining and squirming in order to get their attention. ‘We did a drive through.’ He looked at Silver. ‘It was his idea.’ He straightened up. ‘And apparently, you suggested it the last time you were down.’

‘Fuck.’ Jim looked at Silver again, then went and threw both arms around him. ‘I can’t believe you did it, you old bastard.’ Silver hugged him back, chuckling. 

‘Nice to know I can still surprise you, lad.’ he said. ‘Now kindly point me in the direction of the nearest heater.’ 

‘How about the fireplace?’ Jim said. 

‘Perfect.’ Silver replied. 

They got them installed in the guest bedroom and let them settle in and returned to the kitchen. Once out of earshot, Ross started laughing. 

‘Holy shit.’ he said. ‘They got married!’ He felt ridiculously happy. 

‘I know.’ Jim’s smile had a brightness to it that Ross only got to see when he was truly at ease. ‘Those sneaky old fuckers.’ He went to the fridge and came out with the emergency bottle of champagne, a replacement after what had happened on his birthday. ‘Get the glasses, baby. I think this is going to turn into quite the party tonight.’ 

‘Good thing we have enough food.’ Ross said. 

It turned very celebratory once Silver and Flint came back from unpacking their things, the lads in tow. Glasses of champagne were handed round and Silver went into chef mode, elbowing Ross out the way and helping Jim make dinner. Ross and Flint retreated to a safe distance and left them alone while they went to sit with the dogs in the living room and talk. 

‘So.’ Jim said as Silver came to stand next to him, passing him the paring knife so Silver could help with the vegetables. ‘That was a surprise.’

‘A good one, I hope.’ Silver said. ‘You did say that we should.’

‘I know I did.’ Jim replied, looking at him. ‘I just never expected you to actually listen to me.’

‘A lot has happened since you came home, lad.’ Silver said. ‘I’ve been thinking about things. About family. And then there was the wedding.’ 

‘And that made you realise that you two have been doomed to be together since time immemorial?’ Jim asked with a grin. ‘Because you know you have.’ 

‘I know.’ Silver said, glancing over his shoulder at Flint and Ross on the sofa. ‘I guess I just woke up a couple of weeks ago and wondered why we’d never actually done it.’

‘Something I have been wondering for years since I was old enough to figure out that you two were fucking.’ Jim said and smiled at him. ‘I am very happy you did it. I always wanted a pair of dads.’ 

‘And now you’ve got one.’ Silver replied. 

They sat down to dinner and the conversation turned to how long Silver and Flint were staying. 

‘We were only thinking a couple of days.’ Silver said, sipping his wine. ‘I can’t stay here too long. My balls will freeze.’

‘How about a week?’ Jim said. ‘You can’t just come here, drop a bombshell like this and then fuck off.’ 

‘A week is long.’ Silver protested and then winced as Flint kicked him under the table. 

‘A week is good, John.’ he said. ‘A week is fine. We spend Christmas and New Year’s and then we can go back.’ He smiled at Jim. ‘Now tell us about what you boys have been up to.’

‘Not much.’ Ross said. ‘Jim works and I am spending Christmas shopping and blowing his money.’ He smiled at Jim. ‘And I’m dragging his anti-social arse to a Christmas party with Cilla on Saturday.’

‘Oh dear Lord.’ Silver pulled a face. ‘I hate those kinds parties.’

‘So that’s where you get it from.’ Ross said and Jim gave him the finger. 

‘A Christmas party?' Flint said. ‘That sounds like something you’d definitely hate.’ 

‘Tell me about it.’ Jim said. ‘But I said I would. Cilla has apparently developed an entanglement and she wants Ross to meet him.’ He laughed into his wine glass. ‘He’s dragging me to some nouveau riche mansion on Long island. The guy Cilla’s seeing is called Gino. He’s probably part of the mafia.’ 

‘Now that is something you should probably avoid.’ Silver said. ‘In fact it might be a good idea to check out exactly whose house you’re going to. You never know.’

‘Actually that is a good point.’ Jim said. ‘It could turn out to be someone we’ve had a run in with.’ 

‘A run in?’ Ross asked and Silver and Jim and Flint all exchanged looks. 

‘So you know how I told you that I kind of used to be an enforcer?’ Jim said. ‘Well, that’s kind of still true. Sometimes.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Ross asked and Jim shrugged. 

‘I have been known to have done a few jobs here in New York.’ he said. ‘It’s strictly sideline though. The point is, if these guys are into narcotics then they might be part of a family that I’ve hit before.’ 

‘Hit as in…’ Ross raised his eyebrows at him.

‘Yes, Ross.’ Jim was grinning. ‘Hit as in hit.’ 

‘Is that a possibility?’ Ross asked. ‘That you’ve probably…hit someone they know.’

‘Quite good.’ Silver said with a wolfish smile. ‘Remember the Stazinskis?’

‘They were a bunch of pricks.’ Flint said dismissively. ‘They deserved to be taken out.’ He chuckled. ‘You know what Jim’s nickname is, right?’

‘I do.’ Ross couldn’t quite suppress his smile. ‘I believe it’s well earned.’ 

‘Very well earned.’ Flint said. ‘He can get in and out without anyone knowing he’s even been.’ He refilled his glass. ‘Until they find the body the next day.’ 

After dinner, they cleaned up and Silver and Flint headed off to bed. Jim walked upstairs after turning all the lights off and found Ross in the bathroom brushing his teeth while the boys sprawled belly-up on the bed. He started getting undressed and then went into the bathroom to do the same. As he picked up his toothbrush, he saw the considering look he was getting. 

‘What?’ he asked and Ross spat and then looked at him. 

‘How’d you do it?’ he asked. ‘Like when we were in Miami?’

‘Sometimes.’ Jim said. ‘It depends. If the target is tricky, I snipe.’

‘Seriously?’ Ross asked. ‘Okay, that’s hot.’

‘And if it’s personal, then I make it personal.’ Jim said, squeezing toothpaste on his toothbrush. ‘Knives are my favourite.’ He locked eyes with Ross in the mirror. ‘As you well know.’

‘I’d like to see it.’ Ross mused. ‘I’d like to see you work one day.’

‘Maybe.’ Jim replied. ‘If you’re good, I’ll take you on the next one.’

‘Good at what?’ Ross asked with a mischievous smile. 

‘I haven’t decided yet.’ Jim replied and stuck his toothbrush in his mouth.


	2. Look Who's Coming To Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So that evening Cilla had planned for them? Strange how things turn out.

Saturday came around and true to form, Jim dropped out at the last minute. Although, in his defence, it was not really his fault. Deadlines had to be met and the entire restorations team was working overtime because a new exhibition of previously unshown Pre-Raphaelites had been delayed due to issues with customs. He was on the phone now, completely apologetic.

‘I know I said I would go with you.’ he said. ‘There’s just no way I am getting out of here any time before midnight.’ Ross allowed himself an inward sigh of disappointment. He could hear the other members of Jim’s team talking in the background and knew that it was bad if they were all staying. 

‘All right.’ he said. ‘Looks like I’m flying solo.’

‘I am so sorry, baby.’ Jim said. ‘I promise we can do anything you like when this is over.’ He injected an extra layer of meaning into his voice. ‘Anything you want.’ That made Ross smile.

‘It’s okay.’ he said. ‘I know this show is kicking your arse.’ He looked down at the outfit he’d selected to wear that evening. ‘Just a pity you’re not going to see me all dressed up.’

‘Pictures.’ Jim replied with a laugh. ‘Look, I have to go. I’ll call you when I’m on my way home. I might even get there before you.’

‘I love you.’ Ross said, their traditional way of signing off.

‘Love you too, baby.’ Jim replied and disconnected the call. Ross dialed Cilla and got her voicemail. 

‘Hey.’ he said. ‘Look, we’re down to two so I’m getting dressed and coming over to you okay? I don’t want to just turn up by myself. See you in a bit.’ He chucked the phone back on the bed when he was done and went into the bathroom. He showed and shaved and then came back out and got dressed. He’d chosen a tried and tested combination of his black suit and white shirt with a deep red tie, just enough colour to be festive. He put his socks and shoes on, tying off the laces, and then went to the bed and retrieved his phone and lighter. He was halfway down the stairs when Cilla called back. 

‘That’s okay.’ she said. ‘I’m kind of happy he’s not coming. No offence, but your husband’s a little fucking boring.’ Ross burst out laughing. 

‘Okay, whatever.’ he said. ‘So I’ll get a cab to yours?’

‘Fine.’ Cilla said. ‘Gino’s sending a car for me.’

‘Wow.’ Ross got to the bottom of the stairs and walked into the living room. Silver and Flint looked up at him from where they were on the sofa watching Cut Throat Kitchen. ‘That sounds very Jersey Housewives.’

‘Get your ass over here.’ Cilla snorted and cut him off. 

‘That your ride?’ Silver asked. He had Zeus in his lap, while Flint had Apollo. 

‘Yep.’ Ross went to the storage cupboard in the kitchen to grab a fresh pack of cigarettes. ‘You two going to be alright by yourselves?’

‘We’ve got take-away from that Indian place you told us about.’ Flint replied. ‘We’ll be fine. You go and have fun.’

‘Cool.’ Ross walked past them and stopped to pat the dogs. ‘I’ll try not to wake you up when I get in.’

‘Bye.’ they chimed in unison as he headed for the door. Ross opened and shut it behind him, shrugging into his coat and digging his gloves out of his pocket. The coat was elegantly cut black cashmere, one of those little gifts that had a tendency of showing up. He pulled his gloves on while he waited for his Uber and when it arrived he got in and took the drive across town to Cilla’s apartment. It was new, having only become her home a month ago when this thing with Gino had become more or less a fixture in her life. The building he got out in front of was a relatively new development, all glass and steel. Cilla’s apartment was on the top floor, and Ross pressed the buzzer for her to let him in. He found her waiting at her front door for him, joint in hand and wearing a slinky tube of amethyst silk that showed very clearly that she was no wearing underwear. 

‘Come on in.’ she said with a broad smile. ‘Let me show you my new place.’

‘Fuck.’ Ross had to admit he was slightly blown away by what he saw. He recognised the high end furniture as being very costly, and the view from the floor to ceiling windows was breathtaking. He walked over and looked at the lights and Cilla came to stand next to him, her face a picture of smugness. 

‘He’s even put in in my name.’ she said. ‘He says it’s better for tax that way.’

‘This sounds like it’s getting serious, Cil.’ he said.

‘Well, he really wants to meet you.’ Cilla replied. ‘I told him that you’re my best friend and basically all the family I’ve got, so your opinion is important to me. I want you to have a look at him and see what you think.’

‘That sounds like marrying talk.’ Ross said with a grin and she snorted derisively. 

‘He’s already married.’ she said and that made his eyebrows go up.

‘Fuck, Cil.’ Ross looked at her. ‘You didn’t say he was married.’

‘It doesn’t matter that he is.’ she replied. ‘He’s been with her forever. They’ve got two kids. He’ll never leave her, and I don’t think I want him to. This suits me just fine.’ She drifted past him, fingers trailing along his shoulder. ‘Come see the rest of it.’

The apartment was spacious and decorated in that modernistic style that barely managed to tread the line between Eurotrash and being so on trend it hurt. In some odd ways it reminded Ross a lot of Diego and Estefania’s house. There was a massive bedroom with a walk-in closet that was easily the size of his and Jim’s kitchen and Ross suddenly realised just how restrained Jim’s style was in comparison to what he’d been bought up with. He watched as Cilla showed off her closet full of clothes and shoes and waxed lyrical about how well Gino treated her. 

They finally went back into the living room and a few minutes later, the buzzer sounded. 

‘That’s the car.’ Cilla said. She’d put on a pair of sky high silver Louboutins while they were in the closet and she was now holding out a voluminous sable coat. Ross took it and helped her on with it, then opened the door so she could swan out past him. Downstairs a black Mercedes S400 was waiting for them, the uniformed driver opening the door for Cilla to get in while Ross went round the other side. He did up his seatbelt while the chauffeur got back in the front and Cilla raised the privacy screen. 

‘So, tonight things might get a little out of hand.’ she said with a grin. ‘Like I said, there’s acouple of the guys who swing both ways.’

‘Thanks but no thanks.’ Ross replied. He watched as Cilla opened her clutch and extracted a small silver container, then screwed the top off and used the tiny spoon embedded in the lid to ferry the cocaine to her nose. She offered it to him and Ross demurred, getting a look. 

‘You’re letting Jim turn you into an old man.’ Cilla said. 

‘Fine.’ Ross said. ‘Then I’m an old man.’ He looked out the window, noticing that they were approaching the Brooklyn bridge. ‘So who exactly are we going to tonight?’

‘It’s the same guy from last time.’ Cilla said. ‘He’s a friend of Gino’s.’ She had her mobile phone held in front of her face, usuing it to check her make-up. ‘They work together.’

‘Yeah?’ Ross asked. ‘What exactly does he do?’

‘He’s in imports and exports.’ Cilla replied and that immediately set bells ringing in Ross’ head. 

‘Really?’ he asked. ‘I’m assuming that’s code for drugs.’ Cilla shrugged. 

‘He keeps me in coke and he buys me nice things.’ she said. ‘He’s got a big cock and knows how to use it properly. I can’t complain.’ The look she gave Ross was arch. 'In fact it's pretty much how your relationship with Jim works, minus the judgement I'm getting.'

‘I'm not judging Cil. He sounds perfect.’ Ross laughed and then was surprised to see a strange look on her face. ‘Cil?’

‘He’s not perfect.’ she replied. ‘But he’s what I deserve.’ That was such an odd comment that Ross was unable to come up with a reply other than to give her a searching look.

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ he asked. ‘You deserve whatever anyone else gets.’

‘I’m not so sure.’ Cilla said with a wry smile. ‘As you pointed out, I got dicked by ten different guys last weekend.’

‘That’s bullshit.’ Ross said. ‘Who gives a fuck if you did? You’ve never worried about what anyone thinks before.’ 

‘I know.’ Cilla said, and then her smile was back in place. Now though, Ross could see the brittleness in it and he felt a twinge of worry. It seemed so odd coming from her. Cilla was a stone cold bitch, tough as nails. They didn’t speak much for the rest of the ride, that little exchange having created a tension between them that Ross had never noticed before. They got to Long Island and headed out along the 495 towards Brentwood. Then just as they hit Upton, the car turned to take the 111. Cilla frowned and leaned forward. She lowered the privacy screen.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked. ‘We’re supposed to be heading into Northampton.’

‘Change of plans.’ the driver said. ‘I was told to take you to the house.’ 

‘The house?’ Cilla asked and then looked at Ross. ‘Which house?’ The driver didn’t reply and she dug out her phone. She dialled and then waited, huffing in annoyance when she got voicemail. ‘What the fuck?’

‘Everything okay?’ Ross asked and she flounced back in her seat. 

‘I swear.’ she said, but he could see she was bothered. ‘That man changes his mind like the wind.’ 

‘I thought this was a friend of his.’ Ross said, now feeling like he really shouldn’t have come. He wasn’t particularly worried, but he took his phone out and sent Jim a text nonetheless. Cilla noticed this and raised the barrier again. 

‘It’s fine.’ she said, trying to sound reassuring. ‘It’s probably just a last minute change of plans.

‘Does he do this a lot?’ Ross asked and she shrugged. 

‘Things come up.’ she said. 

They got to Sunrise Highway and started driving into Westhampton. Ross watched the houses change from affluent to mansion, and then looked back at Cilla. 

‘Looks like a step up.’ he said, trying to make light of the situation. Cilla just gave him a rather strained smile. They drove over the causeway and into Southampton and that was when they turned off the main highway and started making their way towards the beach. Eventually they stopped at a pair of massive and incredibly ornate iron gates bordered by ten foot hedges that blocked everything behind from view. There were cameras and the chauffeur lowered his window. A few moments passed and then the gates slowly swung inward and the car drove inside. 

Ross saw a perfectly manicured lawn that led to a grand house, all white stuccoed walls and Greek columns. The car pulled into the turning circle and stopped and the chauffeur got out to open Cilla’s door. Even as Ross was getting out, he saw the front door open and a young man come out. He looked a little like what Jim might have turned into if Diego and Estefania’s influence had had more of an impact on him. He was wearing a very stylish suit, black with a red shirt. His hair was blond and styled and his tan was bordering on mahogany, in spite of the fact that it was the middle of winter. Ross took one look at him and something just clicked in his head. It was the same reaction he’d had with Richie, but where he now knew what Richie was like he had no idea as to what kind of man Gino would turn out to be. 

‘Bella!’ he said, going to Cilla and kissing her soundly. Cilla let him kiss her and then hit him with her clutch. 

‘What the fuck, Gino?’ she asked. ‘I thought we were going to be at Luca’s.’ 

‘Change of plans, baby.’ Gino said, putting an arm around her waist. He looked at Ross, giving him an up and down. ‘So this is Ross, huh?’ He stuck out a hand, but didn’t let her go. ‘Nice to meet ya, buddy.’ That immediately made Ross take a mental step back. His inner Brit railed against the familiarity and he took the hand, smiling to hide his distaste, noting how Gino was doing the standard Alpha male crushing grip. 

‘So you’re the man who’s made such an impression on Cilla.’ he said and Gino have him a bright Hollywood smile, teeth too even and too white to be natural. 

‘Guilty as charged.’ he replied and Ross noticed that he was wearing his wedding ring, a broad band of yellow gold. ‘I gotta say I was worried when Cilla told me about you, but she said I got nothing to worry about.’ The knowing way he said it made Ross unusually angry and he bit back his annoyance and turned on his actor’s charm, thanking his lucky stars that he was able to hide the sudden urge he had to punch Gino in the face. 

‘Well, she’s told me very little about you.’ he replied and Gino laughed and slapped Cilla on the rear end. 

‘Because she knows what’s good for her.’ he chuckled and winked at Ross. ‘I thought you were bringing your girlfriend with you.’ It was clear that he thought he'd just made a rather clever joke and Ross sighed internally.

‘He had to work.’ he replied. 

‘Yeah, Cil said he’s in art?’ Gino said, chivvying Cilla along towards the open door. 'What is he, a painter?'

‘He’s a restorer.’ Ross replied. ‘So yes.’ 

‘And you’re like my baby here?’ Gino asked. ‘An aspiring cocksucker?’ He chortled loudly. ‘Sorry, I meant to say actor.’ It was at that point that Ross decided he really didn’t like Gino. Not one bloody bit.

‘Gino.’ Cilla admonished. ‘I didn’t invite Ross here so you could insult him.’ It lacked her usual bite though and Ross added that to his growing list of concerns. 

‘Yeah, well I'm just kidding right?’ Gino winked at Ross again and Ross started seriously thinking about taking his eyes out. ‘And look, babe. These guys you’re meeting tonight are basically the shit, so no embarrassing me okay? And if one of them asks you to take a walk with them, you go.’ He didn’t elaborate as to what he meant but when Ross shot Cilla a look, she avoided his eyes. They walked through a grand entrance hall and into a formal living room, lavishly appointed and sporting the largest Christmas tree Ross had ever seen. There was a group of people that were all standing around, four men and four women who all looked like they were extras from the Sopranos. The women were dressed alike, all sleek glossy manes of hair and bright colours, and the men were in the same style of suit as Gino. 

‘Everyone.’ Gino announced. ‘This is Cilla and her friend Ross.’ The oldest man came forward, handsome in an Al Pachino way, his dark hair tinged with silver. He took Cilla’s hand and kissed it. 

‘We’ve heard a lot about you.’ he said. ‘Gino’s been threatening to bring you over for weeks.’ He gave Ross a once over but didn't offer to shake hands. ‘I’m guessing you’re the…’ His mouth quirked. ‘Friend.’ 

‘This is Sal Collusco.’ Gino said, and the way he said it made it clear that whoever Sal was he was a big deal. ‘That’s Sal’s lady, Diana.’ A tall blond with a botoxed face raised her glass to them. ‘That’s Lew, Freddie and Mattie. The ladies are Ashley, Sandra and Joanne.’ He smiled at Cilla. ‘This is the inner circle, babe.’ He glanced over at Ross. ‘You wanted to get the stamp of approval, so I figured I should return the favour.’ There was something underlying it, and Ross would have taken serious umbrage to the subtle threat if he hadn’t been so busy hiding his shock. 

Collusco. He knew that name.

‘It’s good to meet you.’ Diana said. She had come forward and taken Cilla’s arm. ‘Gino’s said a lot of nice things about you. Let’s go get you a drink and we can talk while the men do their thing.’ This was said with a look over her shoulder at Sal and he nodded. They disappeared through a door that appeared to lead to the dining room, leaving Ross with the men. 

‘So you’re an actor, huh?’ The man that had been identified as Lew came over. ‘TV or film?’

‘Theatre actually.’ Ross said and there were knowing looks passed between the group.

‘Guess that’s where all you fags like to hang out, right?’ Gino laughed and slapped Ross on the shoulder. For a second Ross didn’t know what to say and then his self-preservation kicked in. 

‘Absolutely.’ he replied. 

**********

Dinner was a trial. Ross now knew that he hadn’t been invited so he could offer an opinion on Gino. Instead he got the distinct impression that this was a little exercise in intimidation in retaliation for Cilla daring to make such a suggestion. He’d discovered that all the men where Colluscos, including Gino. Sal was Gino’s uncle and Freddie and Mattie his cousins. Lew was Sal’s brother, and the cohort of women were their mistresses as opposed to their wives. 

Half of Ross was absolutely horrified that he’d been dragged into what amounted to the household of his husband’s mortal enemy. The other half was gleefully waiting until he could leave and tell Jim exactly where he’d been. All of him was appalled at the completely unfiltered homophobia and misogyny that the men around him weren’t even trying to hide, although every remark was followed up with a ‘Just kidding, right?’ Knowing he was horribly outnumbered, Ross keep his smile in place and his mouth shut, even though all he wanted to do was pick up one of the cut glass pitchers from the table and smash it into every smug face that was watching him, pushing to get a reaction. 

They had spent a good part of the evening making snide comments about the theatre, the fact that gay people could get married in New York, the fact that Broadway was full of ‘commies and fags’ as they put it. With every comment, Ross could also see how Cilla was shrinking in on herself, clearly so embarrassed that she wanted to fall through the floor. All the way through it though, Ross was thinking about something else. He could have handled the bigotry and the rudeness, Christ knew his own family were only marginally less scathing about his sexuality. But this was the family that had made Jim break, had taken his first love away from him and turned him into the monster that Ross was so in love with. There was irony in this and he could only smile to himself as he contemplated that particular fact. So he listened and laughed when he was the butt of the joke and thought about all the things he and Jim could do to them all, if they had time and enough sharp implements. 

After dinner, Ross cornered Cilla and told her he was going home. She nodded and smiled at him, but he could see that she was torn. 

‘It’s okay.’ he said, his voice low. 

‘I am so sorry.’ Cilla replied, not like her usual ebullient self at all. ‘I had no idea he was going to do this.’ 

‘It’s not your fault, Cil.’ Ross replied. ‘I’m just going to go home and I’ll call you tomorrow.’ He kissed her on the cheek and then took a step back as Gino came over. 

‘You leaving already?’ he asked Ross, sipping his scotch. ‘Pity.’ The insincerity stuck in Ross’ throat but he minded his manners. 

‘I have to get back.’ he said. ‘My husband has just sent me a message saying he’s done and I promised him that we’d meet up.’

‘Husband? Jesus.’ Gino sounded mildly disgusted and Ross found himself wondering if Cilla’ stories about the gay friends were just a ruse to get him to come out with her. ‘Well, look I’ll get the car to take you back.’

‘That’s very kind of you.’ Ross said. ‘And thank you for a lovely evening.’ Gino laughed out loud at that. 

‘Yeah, you too buddy.’ he said, eyes twinkling with that sight malevolence that had been an undertone of the entire evening. ‘Glad to finally meet you.’

‘I’ll call you tomorrow, Ross.’ Cilla said and squeezed his hand. Ross nodded and left them to it, noting that the others hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. 

He let himself out and then took out his mobile phone. He turned on the GPS and made a note of the exact location and then grinned. The car soon appeared and Ross got in. He left the privacy screen up and then called Jim. The phone rang a couple of times before it was answered. 

‘Good timing, baby.’ Jim said by way of greeting. ‘I am literally switching off the lights and getting the fuck out of here. How was your evening?’

‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’ Ross replied, smiling broadly. ‘I just found you the best fucking Christmas present ever.’


	3. Elf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparations are being made.

The reaction Ross got was not what he expected. He had not really thought it through at all. He certainly wasn’t expecting them to all be in the living area at three in the morning, discussing what was to be done.

‘Fuck.’ Flint’s eyes were blazing. ‘All of them? You’re sure?’

‘I don’t know?’ Ross replied. ‘Is that all of them?’

‘Bar one or two, yeah.’ Silver had his hand to his mouth, his face thoughtful. ‘Shit. Who the fuck would have thought they’d all be in the same place?’

‘Jim?’ Ross was now feeling a little concerned. Jim was at the kitchen window, his back to them, just looking out into the dark. ‘Are you okay?’ Jim didn’t answer and he looked back at Silver and Flint. 

‘Lad.’ Silver’s voice carried and Jim jumped like he’d just been startled. He turned round and Ross could see he’d been a million miles away.

‘What?’ he asked and Silver went to him. 

‘Ross asked if you’re okay.’ he said. ‘Quite frankly, I am starting to wonder the same thing.’

‘Just thinking.’ Jim said. He turned back to the window. ‘It would be tricky.’

‘It would.’ Silver said, hand on Jim’s shoulder. ‘But we could call in some favours.’ He sighed. ‘I’m not sure about this.’

‘This is the first opportunity we’ve had. Since that thing with Carmen, they’ve been laying low.’ Flint pointed out.

‘Diego will want to keep the peace.’ Jim said. ‘You know how he is.’

‘True.’ Flint said, getting up from the sofa. ‘But this isn’t about Diego, Jim. It’s about Andres. You know that as well as I do.’ He walked into the kitchen, coming to stand on Jim’s other side. He placed his own hand on Jim’s shoulder and Jim turned to look at him. ‘We never got payback for Andres. We let it go.’

‘So you’re suggesting this is the time to take it?’ Silver was watching Flint carefully. ‘We might start a war. Are we prepared to do that?’

‘They won’t fight back.’ Flint said. ‘Sal and Lew are getting old, John. And those little dickheads that are running most of the syndicate now don’t know their arses from their elbows. No-one will miss them and the ones that take over might be more amenable to cutting a deal with us.’

‘I hadn’t thought about that.’ Silver said. ‘That’s true.’ He looked at Jim. ‘It’s your call, lad. This is your turf now.’

‘I know.’ Jim replied. He looked out the window again. ‘I need to think.’

‘Think then.’ Flint said. He stepped away and walked back down to the living room. Silver followed him.

‘Where do you want to go?’ he asked and Flint stopped. 

‘We’ll go look up Ruben and Tomas.’ he said. ‘Go see what they can get us.’ He looked at Ross. ‘You need to do some intel work. When is Cilla coming back?’

‘She’ll probably come back tonight, but she’s supposed to be coming around tomorrow. What kind of intel are we talking about?’ Ross asked. 

‘We need to know what they are going to be doing.’ Silver said. ‘It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. They won’t spend that with the girlfriends. That’s strictly wives only time. But they’ll probably be partying with them on New Year’s Eve. That’s going to be too big, too high profile and they’ll probably hit the town. We need to catch them all in one place, and take them off site. Dispose of them where no-one’s going to find them for a while.’

‘I have a place.’ Jim said and they all looked at him again. ‘The one out in Jackson heights.’

‘Jesus, you still have that?’ Silver asked. ‘It’s kind of built up around there though.’

‘Mostly daytime trade.’ Jim replied. ‘Not too many people coming and going at night.’ He turned and now the look on his face was determined. ‘It’ll do.’ He looked at Ross. 

‘They’re right. You need to find out when exactly the next time they’re all going to be there is. That way we can take them all out in one go.’

‘We need some help with this one.’ Silver said. ‘They’ll have heavy security. We need a way in and a way out that won’t alert anyone and won’t bring the cops down on our arses.’

‘You need an elf.’ Jim said with a smile. ‘A Christmas elf.’ He huffed a soft laugh.

‘Is she even in the game anymore?’ Silver asked and Jim turned back to the window, arms folded and a quirk at the corners of his mouth.

‘She never left it.’ he said. ‘But she’s picky about what she does now. Who she works with.’

‘You know how to find her?’ Flint asked. He had their coats in his hands and passed Silver’s to him. 

‘I can find her.’ Jim said. ‘We’ll also need gear. I don’t carry that kind of hardware.’

‘Leave that to us.’ Silver said and then came over. To Ross’ surprise, he took Jim by the back of his head and pulled him in to kiss him on the forehead. ‘Do what you can, lad. We’ll be back soon.’

‘Will do.’ Jim replied and watched them as they left. Ross stood there, not quite sure what had just transpired in the space of fifteen minutes. 

‘So?’ He looked at Jim and then was left standing as Jim walked past him like a man in a mission, following him into the hall and watching him put his coat on. ‘Where the fuck are you going?’

‘To find an elf.’ Jim replied like it was the most normal thing in the world. ‘You coming?’

***********

They caught a cab across town to Hell’s Kitchen and a line of seedy looking strip bars and adult bookshops, one of the few left in the city. Jim got out after paying the drive and led Ross to one at the end, opening the door to usher him into the shop front with the painted out windows. Inside, it was dim, lit mostly by neon and smelling strongly of disinfectant. A bored looking man with a mullet was reading a porno mag behind the counter and didn’t even spare them a glance as Jim went through the shelves of sex toys and other paraphernalia. Ross followed him, and they descended down a staircase at the far end, the walls painted black and lit by red bulbs. Music was filtering up, the bass heavy, and when they got to the bottom Jim pushed open the door. There was a single corridor in front and it was lined with doors. That was when Ross recognised where they were.

‘What the fuck?’ he asked Jim. ‘Why are we here?’ Jim just glanced back at him and led him down the corridor to the emergency exit at the far end, pushing on the bar and leading Ross up another set of stairs, these ones concrete. Halfway up was a landing and there was a door set in the wall. Jim went and knocked. Ross came to stand behind him. He frowned and looked at Jim. Jim nodded above them and Ross looked up to see the tiny camera installed in the corner of the ceiling. They stood there for what seemed like ages, Ross getting increasingly impatient. Jim hadn’t so much as said a word to him since they had left the apartment and he was dying to know what they were doing. 

‘Jim…’ he hissed and Jim immediately shushed him. Stung, Ross glared at him and then jumped when there was the sound of a very heavy bolt being drawn back on the inside of the door. It cracked open and someone looked through. Ross got a glimpse of dark eyes and a suspicious expression. 

‘Christ.’ The person inside was pure South London. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

‘Looking for one of Santa’s little helpers, Elf.’ Jim replied. ‘We found the Colluscos.’

‘No shit.’ The door opened and Ross found himself looking at a woman who could only be described as statuesque. She towered over even him, and her musclebound build made her look like some sort of goddess come to life. She was dressed in dungarees, combat boots and a Ducktails t-shirt that stretched across her ample chest. Her hair was a natural afro, a black cloud around her head, and tied back from her face with a turquoise sash, matched by shimmering eyeshadow that stood out against her dark skin. ‘So what you going to do?’

‘Hit them.’ Jim replied. ‘You want in?’

‘Fuck yeah, I want in.’ Elf said. She held the door open and Jim walked in. Ross followed, getting a look of undisguised curiosity. ‘Who’s the twink?’ Ross gave Jim an outraged look and saw that Jim was grinning. 

‘This is Ross, Elf. My husband.’ he replied and this made Elf throw her head back and roar with laughter. 

‘Your husband?’ She took another look at Ross. ‘Jesus, what the fuck made you do that?’

‘He’s good in bed and he likes to kill people.’ Jim replied, completely matter of fact. ‘What’s not to love?’

‘Sounds like a match made in heaven.’ Elf laughed. ‘So where are those motherfuckers holed up?’ She started walking through from the bare hall they were in to another room behind, sweeping aside the bead curtain that hung in the doorway. Ross noticed that she had to duck slightly. 

‘The Hamptons.’ Jim replied. ‘Ross has a GPS location.’

‘You came prepared.’ Elf said with a smile at Ross. ‘Clever boy.’ She spread her arms as Ross looked around the room they were now in. ‘Welcome to my parlour.’ She then turned and held out a hand. ‘Phone.’ Ross looked around him and his eyes went wide as he took in the room they were standing in. It was like a bunker, if bunkers came in hacker chic. There was a desktop set up with four monitors all showing different views, a corner workbench full of components and wires and cables. He looked at Jim and got a nod of reassurance then handed over his mobile phone. Elf took it and started walking off, stopping to turn at the doorway at the end of the room. 

‘You boys stay here.’ she instructed. ‘And don’t touch anything.’ She disappeared through the doorway and Ross raised his eyebrows at Jim. 

‘She used to work with Silver back when I was still there.’ Jim said. 

‘She’s quite intimidating.’ Ross said and Jim laughed. 

‘Elf’s special.’ he replied. ‘There hasn’t been a security system created that she couldn’t hack into. She’ll get us into the house and buy us some time and cover our tracks.’ They turned as Elf came back in with a tablet. 

‘What kind of system is it?’ she asked. 

‘Ross said there were cameras at the gate.’ Jim replied. ‘I would assume they’re all over the house as well.’

‘How long will you need?’ Elf asked. 

‘Maybe two hours at the outside.’ Jim replied. ‘We’re planning on getting in and extracting them to another location with a bit more privacy.’

‘How strong is their setup?’ Elf handed back the phone to Ross, then moved to sit down at the monitors.

‘I have no idea.’ Ross replied. ‘I saw some guys around the house but I wasn’t really paying attention.’ Elf exchanged looks with Jim. 

‘Ross isn’t one of us.’ he said. ‘He’s actually an actor.’ He grinned. ‘That’s probably why he was allowed to come for dinner in the first place.’ Elf did a full body shiver.

‘I would imagine that was not a very pleasant experience.’ Her fingers were now dancing over the keyboard. ‘Let’s say they have a DVR system. I would.’

‘Does that make it harder to hack?’ Ross was now very curious. He had little technological know-how when it came to computers, but he found the whole idea fascinating. 

‘It does, but not impossible.’ Elf said. ‘And those wankers have probably gone for the flashiest most up to date system which means it’s completely accessible remotely.’ She now had a web page up. ‘I’ll be able to find out which company it is quite easily.’ She threw Jim a grin over her shoulder. ‘He’s a lamb, isn’t he?’ Jim smiled at Ross.

‘When he wants to be.’ he said. ‘He also suffers from insatiable curiosity.’ Elf laughed. 

‘In that case pet, come and sit next to me and I’ll tell you stories about how your hubby was the darling of the Caribbean drugs trade.’ she said. ‘Jim, you can go get us something to eat. The burger place down the block is good. Make mine a triple everything.’

‘Got it.’ Jim turned and started to walk back to the entry door and Ross watched him go, a look of trepidation on his face. Elf noticed and patted his knee.

‘You’ll be safe with me, love.’ she said. ‘I’m going to show you some magic.’ Jim chuckled and left the room. Ross heard the door open and slam shut and then looked back at the screen. 

‘I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re doing.’ he said and Elf tapped the screen with her forefinger. Ross noticed that her nails were painted to look like iridescent fish scales. 

‘The first thing I need to do is narrow down which company they’re using.’ she said. ‘This search engine is called Shodun. It’s going to show me all the IP listings for security companies operating on Long Island.’ She typed in a command and a listing came up. ‘See there are 42 of them. If I go through to each one, I can hack the login and look through the customer database to match it up with the address you gave me. Then I can access their system and do pretty much whatever the fuck I want to with it.’ She smiled. ‘Pretty standard stuff. The beauty of this is that even if the cops find out what I did, I have so many reroutes set up, they’ll never link it to me. Not that they will. Suffolk is as incompetent as fuck.’ 

‘That sounds very James Bond.’ Ross said and Elf nodded. 

‘It’s why I’m good.’ she said. ‘I’ll be getting a nice Christmas bonus for this.’ She gave Ross a sidelong glance as she started navigated through to another webpage, this one the site for the first company on the list. ‘So when did you two get married?’ 

‘September.’ Ross said. ‘You weren’t invited?’

‘I don’t do the outside.’ Elf said. ‘Agorophobia.’

‘Oh.’ Ross was intrigued. ‘So you never leave?’

‘Not if I can help it.’ Elf replied. She inserted what looked like a hard drive into the USB of the hard drive in front of her and another window popped up with a countdown. In a few seconds a password popped up and she entered it. ‘Right, we’re in.’ 

‘That was quick.’ Ross remarked and she huffed a laugh. 

‘So was your marriage.’ she said. ‘How long was it?’

‘About a year?’ Ross shrugged. ‘I kind of knew though.’

‘Was it that long?’ Elf was sweeping through a list of names. ‘They’re not in here. I kind of lose track sometimes.’ She closed down the website and started the process anew. ‘So how did you two meet?’

‘Over a mutual acquaintance.’ Ross grinned, remembering. 

‘Enough said.’ Elf replied. ‘I’ve known Jim long enough to guess what that might mean.’

‘How long?’ Ross asked. He looked down as he felt something curling around his ankles and smiled in delight at the fat tabby cat that mewed and looked up at him. He reached down and picked her up, cradling her in his lap and scratching behind her ears. The cat settled in and started purring loudly.

‘I worked for Silver when I was still Alfie.’ Elf replied. ‘Got out of it a few years after those motherfuckers killed Andres and Jim took off for New York. I decided that I’d had enough of being who I wasn’t and came here, got back in touch and became Elf.’ She gave Ross a look that was clearly waiting for a reaction. Ross, who had a strict live and let live policy, wasn’t fazed. 

‘You look good for it.’ he said and Elf grinned. 

When Jim came back, they had gone through about half the websites and Elf was just hacking her way into one that looked fairly promising, being in the same area of Suffolk County. She had also had Ross in stitches after regaling him with stories of a boy from South London and another from the West Country getting into it on Trinidad and resulting in a friendship that had survived an existential crisis and a transition that saw both of them changed beyond recognition. Jim was loaded down with bags and balancing three sodas, which he handed off to Ross. 

‘I see you met Pringles.’ he said and Ross smiled at the cat in his lap. 

‘I did.’ he replied, balancing the cup on the table in front of him and taking Jim’s free hand. ‘And I’ve been hearing about Trinidad and how you and Elf almost got arrested.’

‘Fuck.’ Jim grinned at Elf. ‘That was a crazy night.’

‘It was.’ she replied. ‘Okay break time. We eat and then I’ll get back to this.’ 

They moved to the battered sofa and armchair on the other side of the room and ate. Ross had to admit that the burger was easily one of the best he’d ever had. 

‘Now, logistics.’ Elf said. ‘What are you planning?’

‘We need to go in, extract and get out.’ Jim replied. ‘To do that, the alarms have to be cut off, and we need something that won’t show us on the CCTV or set off any alarms for at least twelve hours afterwards.’

‘Easy.’ Elf said. ‘I can disable all the external and internal cameras from here. Likewise I can jam the communications between the house and the security company. I’ll set up a feedback loop so all they’ll see is the footage from the twelve hours before, no record you were anywhere near the place.’

‘What about sensors?’ Jim asked. 

‘I’ll give you something for that.’ Elf replied. ‘I just need to check what frequency to set it to which I can do once I’m in the company website.’ She took a massive bite of her burger, chewed methodically and swallowed. ‘You’ll need to take care of the security personnel.’

‘That’s not a problem.’ Jim swatted at Ross’ hand as he attempted to steal the last of his fries. ‘There’ll be four of us.’ 

‘Driver?’ Elf asked. 

‘Silver.’ Jim said. ‘He’ll be happy to do it. Flint and Ross and I can do the wet work.’

‘Really?’ Elf was looking at Ross now with a considering expression on her face. ‘I thought he was an actor?’

‘I also said he likes to kill people.’ Jim replied. ‘He’s a gifted amateur.’

‘That must make for interesting pillow talk.’ Elf replied. 

**********

They finally left at about four in the morning, with what looked like a hand held GPS and severe case of indigestion from the junk food they had consumed. 

‘We’ll see you after Christmas then.’ Jim said as they said goodbye at the door. 

‘Yeah. I’ll make some jerk goat.’ Elf said and waved them off, shutting the door behind them. The night was freezing when they left, the cold making them both wince. 

‘It’s so late.’ Ross yawned. ‘We’ll never get a cab.’

‘Then we walk.’ Jim said. ‘It’ll only take about forty-five minutes.’

It ended up being a little over an hour when they finally got in. The apartment was in darkness and they shed their coats and hung them up and then walked upstairs in the dark to their room. Once inside, Jim left the bedroom light off and went into the bathroom. Ross heard the sound of the tub being filled. He went to stand in the doorway. Jim was stripping out of his clothes, and Ross looked at him. His eyes went to the scar on Jim’s upper arm, the permanent reminder of the night he proposed to Ross while bullets were flying around their ears. He also noted that Jim suddenly looked very tired, but that was not unexpected considering what had happened in the past twelve hours.

‘What will you do to them?’ he asked and Jim looked up from where he was emptying a great deal of bath oil into the tub, the smell of sandalwood and vetiver filling the air. 

‘Kill them.’ he said. ‘Make them watch each other die. Let them experience some of the pain we did.’ He stood up and came over to Ross. ‘You don’t have to be a part of this, you know. I realise we talked about you coming along, but that may not be the best idea.’

‘Fuck that.’ Ross relied. ‘I’m coming with you. I won’t get in the way, I promise.’ He took Jim’s hands and held them in his own. ‘I want to be there for you.’ Jim looked at him, his eyes searching and finding what he wanted. 

‘All right.’ he said.


	4. Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are put into action...

On Christmas Eve they woke to fresh snow at around eleven. The house itself was quiet and Jim lay looking up at the ceiling as his mind carefully catalogued the previous evening’s events. Next to him, Ross was only half awake, burrowed under the covers. He snuffled softly and moved so his head was on Jim’s shoulder, arm coming to drape across him as Jim wrapped his around Ross’ shoulders. He kissed the dark curls and listened to Ross breathe, feeling him so warm and alive in his arms as he let his fingers drift up and down Ross’ spine. He’d missed that when Andres had first been taken from him, once the rage had passed and left just the anguish in its wake. In those intervening years, it had been telling that he’d very seldom let any of the men he’d fucked stay the night. Ross had been the first in well over a year. 

‘Hey.’ Ross’s voice was barely a whisper. ‘You’re awake.’ 

‘A little.’ Jim replied. He kissed the top of Ross’ head again, inhaled the smell of his shampoo. 

‘You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?’ Ross moved so he was now balanced on one elbow, his dark eyes sleep-soft. 

‘It’s been ten years this year.’ Jim replied. ‘It seems kind of fitting.’

‘You need this.’ Ross said and Jim looked at him. ‘It’s going to give you the closure you’ve never had.’ He reached up, finger tracing along Jim’s jaw. ‘You can finally make them pay for what they did.’ Jim looked back at him steadily, his light eyes several shades darker in the dim light. He kissed Ross’ finger when it traced over his mouth and leaned in towards him. Ross kissed him, sighing into it and feeling the tension go out of him. 

We’ll get past Christmas first.’ he said. ‘Then we’ll make plans.’

‘I’ll call Cilla later.’ Ross replied. ‘I can talk to her tonight.’

‘Okay.’ Jim said. A shrill whistle from downstairs made them both start. Then Jim smiled. ‘Breakfast.’ He got up and went to the closet, coming out with sweatpants and t-shirts for them both. ‘Get dressed. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.’

*********

Downstairs they found Flint and Silver in the kitchen, with the Christmas tree lights on and Bobby Daris playing at low volume. There was a stack of beautifully wrapped presents under the tree. Flint was at the kitchen table which had been set, cup of coffee at his elbow and the New York Times laid out in front of him. He smiled at them as they came into the kitchen. The dogs were passed out on the sofa and Jim knew that he’d obviously gone out early to walk them. Flint was a great fan of dogs, but having Bob on the cay meant that dogs didn’t last very long. 

John was at the range cooking scrambled eggs, the smell of bacon and sausage already wafting through the kitchen. He gave them a quick glance over his shoulder. Jim went straight to him and Ross smiled as he watched him lean against Silver’s shoulder. Silver moved, arm going around him and squeezing. It was only a few seconds and then Jim moved away, but it was enough. Ross went and poured them both a cup of coffee from the fresh pot that had been made and doctored them with milk and sugar. He handed Jim his and they went to sit at the table as well. Jim sat and pulled up one foot, his hand on his knee as he looked at Flint. Flint looked back, his grey eyes steady. 

‘You sleep okay?’ he asked and Jim huffed. 

‘I should be asking you that?’ he replied. ‘What time did you two get in?’

‘About four.’ Silver replied. He bought out the bacon and sausage to a plate from the oven and bought it over with a basket of toast. Jim took it from him and placed it in the middle. Silver went back and brought over the pan of eggs, dishing them out and then putting it in the sink and coming back with a pitcher of fresh orange juice. They started eating and Silver looked over at Jim. 

‘We’re going to go out.’ he said. ‘Pick up the last of the food for tomorrow.’

‘Fine.’ Jim said. ‘You need us to do anything?’ 

‘No.’ Silver replied. ‘I think we’ll be all right.’ He grinned. ‘We have a few last minute presents as well that need collecting.’

‘Christ.’ Jim said. ‘I told you not to go overboard.’

‘And I am choosing to ignore you.’ Silver replied. ‘It’s the first Christmas I get to spoil not just my son but my son-in-law in person. Last year was a bit of a fuck up.’

‘True.’ Jim looked at Ross. ‘In that case we’ll just lie around here.’ He reached over for more toast and gave them both a meaningful look. ‘So what happened last night?’

‘We see that Ruben’s put on weight.’ Silver said. ‘He’s got jowls.’

‘We also got the hardware we need.’ Flint said. ‘But I was thinking that I don’t like the idea of the Jackson Height’s thing.’

‘You want to dump them?’ Jim looked sceptical. ‘That’s not a good idea. Better to leave people guessing. And if they go missing, you know it’s going to be a good long time before they even get reported, if they do. The business is not going to want the cops anywhere near this.’

‘That’s true.’ Silver said to Flint. ‘Maybe better that way. I know you’d like to leave a mark, but that might not be the way to go about things in this case.’

‘And it’s not like we don’t let them know what happened.’ Jim said. ‘We just reply in kind.’ Ross didn’t know what he was referring to, but the way Flint locked eyes with Jim and look that passed between them told him that there was something in what he’d said. 

‘Manorville.’ Flint finally said. ‘I’ll be happy with that. We can out them there and it’ll be months before anyone finds them.’ Jim sighed and broke the look and Ross gave him a questioning glance and got a little shake of the head in reply. Whatever it was, Jim didn’t want to discuss it.

‘Manorville could work.’ he said. ‘I still think it’s risky though, but that would probably work.’

‘Good.’ Flint went back to his food and the topic was dropped. 

‘So later, we were thinking about going out.’ Silver said, changing the subject a few minutes later. It worked, dispelling that sense of melancholy that had crept in. ‘Maybe the Rockefeller.’

‘Jesus, why?’ Jim sat back in his chair, looking like he’d just been told he was about to be tortured. ‘Do you know how fucking busy it’s going to be?’

‘Because we want to.’ Silver countered. ‘There’s an ice rink.’ That made Ross’ ears prick up immediately. He gave Jim a pleading look and Jim sighed again, this time with the air of a man about to me martyred. Ross had been bugging him pretty much the whole of winter to take him skating. He was surprised that Ross was whining pathetically like the boys did when they wanted something.

‘It’ll be fun.’ Flint said. ‘We haven’t been skating in years.’

‘We’ve never been skating.’ Jim replied. 

‘All the more reason to do it.’ Silver said. ‘And afterwards we have taken the liberty of deciding that we’re going to cook dinner.’ Jim shook his head. 

‘You’re the guests?’ he said.

‘Tough. Deal with it.’ Silver said. 

After breakfast they cleaned up while Flint and Silver went to get dressed and ready to go out. Ross was drying as Jim washed, trying to hide his excitement at the coming events for that evening. Cilla was due to come over late in the afternoon and so that wouldn’t conflict and he was always keen for a night out. AS if Jim had read his mind, he spoke.

‘You can ask Cilla if she wants to come with us.’ he said. ‘Seeing as how we’re going to be eliminating her boyfriend in a couple of days.’

‘She’s better off without him.’ Ross said and then frowned. ‘I don’t know how she’s going to figure into this.’

‘She won’t.’ Jim said. ‘As far as the women are concerned, they won’t even know what’s hit them.’

‘You going to use something?’ Ross asked and he nodded. 

‘Safer that way.’ he said. ‘We go in quiet and trank the women. They’ll be asleep the whole way through.’

‘Will that be safe?’ Ross felt a flicker of concern. ‘I don’t want her to get hurt.’

‘Perfectly safe.’ Jim replied. ‘They’ll wake up with a bad headache and not knowing what happened. It won’t be any worse than a hangover.’ He let the water out of the sink and turned to Ross. ‘She won’t be any the wiser, but if you have a problem lying to her…’

‘I don’t.’ Ross interjected. ‘And after spending an evening with them, I am more than happy she’ll be out of that.’ Jim read something in his face and frowned.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. Ross shrugged.

‘She was really off last night.’ he replied. ‘Not herself at all. She was…cowed.’

‘That’s probably not a surprise.’ Jim said. ‘They’re not nice people. I mean, neither are we but we don’t beat our wives as a rule.’

‘They do that?’ Ross was clearly appalled. ‘I didn’t see anything.’

‘Maybe you should ask her.’ Jim replied. ‘How long has she been off?’ Ross stopped and was obviously thinking. Jim knew that Cilla had first started seeing Gino about six months before. He actually listened to Ross, old habits dying hard, and tracked things like this. 

‘I don’t actually know.’ he said. ‘I guess I got kind of caught up, what with the trip to France and the wedding. I know she was seeing him then, but she didn’t bring him because she said it was just a fling. That was a really good thing in hindsight.’

‘Not so much a fling now.’ Jim said. His mind was turning things over. ‘What time is she coming?’

‘About five.’ Ross said. ‘But if we’re going to invite her to come out tonight, we can just swing by and get her on the way. Talk to her when we come home and have dinner.’

‘Good idea.’ Jim said. Ross nodded and left the kitchen. He disappeared and Jim heard him going up the stairs. He dried off his hands and went through to the living room, sitting on the sofa and pulling the dogs up next to him while he put the TV on and started flicking through the channels.

Upstairs, Ross dialled Cilla’s number. He listened to it ring for a while and then it went to voicemail. That made him frown. Cilla never ever let him go to voicemail, even if she was indisposed. He rang again and again but by the sixth time he was concerned. He fired off a text and waited. Then his phone buzzed.

Sorry, not feeling so hot. Not coming tonight. He went downstairs and into the living room. 

‘Look.’ he said and held his phone out. ‘This is what I’m talking about. She’s not answering my calls and now this.’ Jim glanced at the screen and then looked up at him. 

‘Well, what do you want to do about it?’ he said.

‘I want to go see if she’s okay.’ Ross replied and Jim nodded and got up.

‘Then we go.’ he said.

************

They left the boys on the sofa. It was about forty-five minutes across to Cilla’s apartment and the thick snow was not conducive to little legs. There were few cabs on the road, but they managed to catch one two streets over and the driver wished them Merry Christmas in a thick Nigerian accent and chatted amiably with them as he drove. Jim tipped him a twenty when he got out and the driver waved them off as Ross went to the door and buzzed. There was no answer and he gave Jim a concerned look when he got to the door.

‘She’s not answering.’ he said. 

‘In that case…’ Jim said and then pressed all the buttons in succession.

‘That’s never going to work.’ Ross said and then got the surprise of his life when the door buzzed and clicked open.

‘You were saying.’ Jim replied, catching the door and holding it open for him. ‘After you.’

They went to the elevator and got in after a pair of people dressed like elves came out. Ross pressed the button for Cilla’s floor and looked at Jim.

‘He’s the one who’s set her up in this.’ he said. ‘I’m guessing it’s the same arrangement for Diana.’

‘It will be.’ Jim replied. ‘The Colluscos are kind of old school when it comes to wives and girlfriends never meeting.’

‘So do I need to worry that you’ve got some barely legal twink hidden on Long Island?’ Ross asked, only half joking. Jim gave him an amused smile. 

‘You are my barely legal twink.’ he replied. ‘Didn’t you hear Elf?’

‘Fuck off.’ Ross laughed and shoved him so Jim went into the side of the elevator. The door pinged and opened and they got out. Ross led them to the only door on the floor and rang the bell. There was no answer. He huffed and then banged on the door quite forcefully, startling Jim a little. 

‘Cilla!’ he called. ‘I know you’re in there.’

There was no reply and Jim looked at him, eyebrow raised. Ross got that adorably stubborn look of his and pounded harder on the door. 

‘Maybe she’s gone out.’ Jim said and he shook his head.

‘I know she’s in there.’ He said and then raised his voice. ‘Come on you silly cow, I don’t have time to dick around out here. I’m fucking worried so just open the door and let me see you’re alive.’ There was silence and then Jim caught the sound of someone moving stealthily on the other side.

‘Fuck off Ross.’ The voice sounded indescribably tired and not like the feisty Cilla Jim had gotten to know since he’d hitched his wagon to Ross’. ‘I don’t want to see you.’ Ross looked at Jim with a ‘you see’ expression and Jim had to admit that now he was even a little worried. He moved to the door and knocked as well, considerably gentler than Ross had done. 

‘Cilla.’ he said. ‘Come on love, he just wants to know you’re okay.’ This was ringing far too many bells with him, all those months of what Jana had gone through with Katya. He knew from good experience that even a strong woman like Cilla could end up in a situation that spiraled wildly out of control without even seeing it come up on her. 

‘Jim?’ Cilla sounded surprised. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

‘Checking you’re all right.’ Jim replied. He could hear the hesitation on her voice. ‘I don’t need to tell you why.’

‘Shit.’ Cilla sounded defated now, resigned. ‘I don’t need you two checking on me. It’s none of your fucking business anyway.’ 

‘Yeah well, you’re Ross’ best friend and Ross is pretty much the most important thing to me so if he’s worried, then I worry.’ Jim replied. ‘Besides you sound like shit.’

Ross glared at him, making frantic gestures for him to shut up but then the sound of the door being unlocked made them both stop and stare at it. It cracked open a couple of inches and what Jim saw made his blood boil. Cilla had her body and face angled so she minimised the amount of her that was visible. 

‘I’m alive.’ she said. ‘Now you can go.’ Jim was about to try and cajole her to open the door more, but Ross beat him to it. 

‘I’m going to fucking kill him.’ It came out so venomous that Jim was shocked. He’d never seen Ross have such a visceral reaction before. He knew he had a temper, had seen it on occasion but this was different. 

‘Ross.’ Cilla was now pleading. ‘It’s not what it looks like.’

‘No?’ Ross was stern. ‘Because it looks like he decided to take his little temper tantrum out on you.’ There was a moment when Cilla froze and then she sighed. 

‘You’re not going to let this go, are you?’ she asked. 

‘Not a fucking chance.’ Ross said, hand flat against the door. ‘Now let me in. Please.’

The door finally opened enough to reveal Cilla in her entirety and now Jim could see that the make-up she’d applied to her face was nowhere near enough to cover the livid bruise that shadowed her cheek and the scabbed lower lip that showed all too well what had happened to her. Not only that, but there were smaller darker bruises that peeked out from the top of her thick red dressing gown. 

‘Not here.’ she said. ‘If you’re coming in, then come in.’ She led them in and closed the door. Now Jim could catch the distinctive smells of pot and alcohol lingering around her. That explained the slightly slurred speech. He could see Ross was appalled, his dark eyes flashing angrily. 

‘That motherfucker.’ His voice was now ice. ‘I suppose that was because you bought me to dinner.’

‘He doesn’t want me to see you anymore.’ Cilla said. She was walking and they moved to keep up with her. In the living room she went to pick up her cigarettes from the table and lit one. He doesn’t want me to have any friends that he hasn’t picked out for me.’ She snorted. ‘I told him that he’d behaved like a pig, that he had no right to treat you that way and that I wasn’t happy.’ She waved a hand at her face. ‘He decided this was a suitable answer.’ 

‘This is not right, Cil.’ Ross went to her, tilting her face up towards him and examining her face. ‘This is not fucking worth it.’

‘I know.’ Cilla made sour face. ‘I’m starting to realise that I might not have chosen so wisely this time.’ She sighed heavily and sat down on the sofa. Jim noticed that there was a three-quarter empty bottle of vodka on the coffee table and this was probably what accounted for the smell coming off her in waves. ‘The shitty thing is that I have no way out of this.’ 

‘Don’t say that.’ Ross went to sit down next to her, putting his arm around her and pulling her into him. ‘We’ll get you out.’ 

‘You don’t know who he is, Ross.’ Cilla said. She waved a hand at the room around them. ‘This isn’t because he’s a stand-up guy. You’ve guessed what he does, and believe me that’s just the start of it.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t want you to get mixed up in this. I wouldn’t want anything to ever happen to you and this shit is way out of your league. He does bad things to people, things you two can’t even imagine.’ Ross looked up at Jim and their eyes locked. Jim could see him asking the question and he made the decision.

‘I think you might be underestimating us.’ he said and Cilla looked at him, her eyes shiny with tears. She snorted and the derision in it cut a little but Jim understood it. 

‘You’re a fucking art restorer, Jim.’ she said. ‘You’re gay. You’re so fucking civilised you get your fucking nails done every week and I’ve never actually seen you with a fucking hair out of place. I bet you’ve never so much as even hit a guy. And Ross is the biggest sweetheart out there. Gino is…’ She trailed off and they could see her battling with herself. 

‘Look, I am telling you this so you know how serious he is. I’ve heard the conversations when they think I’m not listening. I’ve been putting things together. I think he’s actually killed people.’ She shook her head vigorously. ‘You two are awfully sweet for wanting to defend my honour, but you’d end up in a landfill somewhere and I can’t have that on my conscience.’ For a moment Jim actually wanted to laugh. He always found it hilarious when people said things like this, how little they had seen. ‘No, I need to handle this by myself.’ Ross looked at Jim again and held her tighter. This time he was saying something very different with those big brown eyes and Jim knew him well enough to read it. 

‘No.’ he said. ‘You’re going to let us help.’

‘How?’ Cilla slumped against him. ‘You won’t be able to take him on.’

‘I’m not so sure about that.’ Jim said and she made a snuffling noise that was half cry and half laugh.

‘What are you going to do Jim?’ she asked. ‘Ask him very nicely in that lovely British accent of yours to not hit me again and hope he listens to you?’ She huffed. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, the Queen isn’t in charge around here anymore.’

‘No.’ Jim replied, smiling at her. ‘What we have in mind is a little more serious. Now you’re going to go pack whatever the fuck you want to take with you and then we’re taking you to stay with someone that will keep you safe. If Gino calls you, you are not to answer him.’ Cilla gaped at him, astonishment taking over. 

‘Haven’t you heard anything I’ve just said?’ she asked. 

‘Oh, perfectly.’ Jim replied. ‘But like I said. You may be underestimating just who he would be dealing with.’ He looked at Ross. ‘I think you two need to have a little conversation. I need to make a call.’ He took his phone out. ‘And Ross, break it to her gently.’ 

Ross smiled at him and Jim walked out the living room, scouting around until he found the kitchen. Then he dug out the other phone he kept from his pocket that he’d taken the precaution of bringing. It was a disposable, one of a few he had around the house until he decided to discard them. He keyed in a number from memory and after a few minutes a man answered. His accent was sharp, the notes of his native Lithuania shearing off his words. 

‘Hello?’ He sounded just ever so slightly suspicious. Jim grinned. 

‘Hi Jurgis.’ he said. ‘It’s me.’

‘James.’ Jurgis’ formal tones were indicative of his high level of education. He was one of the most intelligent people Jim had ever met, someone he looked up to in intellectual terms. ‘What can I do for you?’ 

‘I need to hide someone for a couple of days and then get her out the country.’ Jim said. ‘Do you have room for a house guest?’

‘I most certainly do.’ Jurgis replied. ‘Does the young lady have a name?’

‘Cilla.’ Jim replied. ‘She’s been at the wrong end of a Collusco.’

‘Bring her to me directly.’ Jurgis said. ‘They won’t find her.’ 

‘Thank you.’ Jim replied. ‘I’ll owe you one.’

‘It is my pleasure James. And please tell your fathers that they are to call on me before they leave New York.’ Jurgis said. Jim chuckled. It wouldn’t do any good to ask Jurgis how he’d known they were in town. Jurgis was even more locked into the grapevine than he was and he was possibly the only person Jim would ever say he could be afraid of. 

I will, Jurgis.’ he said. The call disconnected and Jim grinned. He went back into the living room and saw the look he was now getting from Cilla, her dark eyes wide and her face a picture of confusion. She stared at Jim and then back at Ross. 

‘I don’t understand any of this.’ Her lip was trembling.

‘It’s not that hard.’ Ross said. ‘John and Flint are at the top of one of the biggest drug cartels in Florida and the Caribbean and Jim used to work for them for a very long time until he moved to New York.’ He shrugged. ‘All of Jim’s family are in it. Diego is too, and most of the people you met at the wedding.’ He smiled and there was a trace of smugness in it. ‘Jim’s probably one of the most dangerous people you’ll ever meet.’ 

‘But…’ Cilla looked like it was taking everything she had to process what he’d just said. ‘But he’s so…’ She looked at Jim and frowned. ‘He wears plaid. He owns fucking sausage dogs for fuck’s sake.’ She shook her head. ‘I just don’t believe it.’ 

‘Believe it.’ Jim said. ‘I’ve got a place for you to lie low for a couple of days. Then you’re going to get on a plane to wherever you want and go have a week in the sun. When you get back, you’re going to play the grieving girlfriend when you find out what happened.’ He narrowed his eyes at her. ‘You’re an actress. Think you can do that?’ 

‘What are you going to do?’ Cilla asked. 

‘I’m going to sort out your little Gino problem.’ Jim replied. ‘Permanently. Now I need some information.’

‘What?’ Cilla asked. She was looking nothing like her usual confident self. ‘Hang on. Go back to the ‘permanently’.’ Her voice had changed a little, and Jim heard the sharpness edging around it. ‘Like kill him ‘permanently’?’

‘If that’s what you want?’ Jim replied. ‘It can be taken care of.’ 

‘Fuck.’ Cilla was looking at him now with something bordering on admiration, which Jim had never seen in her before. ‘You’d do that for me?’

‘No.’ he said evenly. ‘But I’d do it for him. You should know that Ross loves you and that he’d ask me to do it for you if it would make you happy.’ A defiant sparkle lit up in Cilla’s eyes.

‘It would.’ she replied. ‘very fucking happy. What do you need from me?’

‘I need to know when the next get together is.’ Jim said and she frowned. 

‘It’s supposed to be on the twenty-eight.’ she replied. ‘It’s going to be quite a big thing apparently.’ She looked away. ‘It’s one of the reasons he only did this, so I would heal by then.’

‘Good.’ Jim said. ‘That’s all I need.’

***********

An hour later, Cilla went to have had a shower and out on fresh makeup. As the layers went on, Ross could see how she was coming back into herself. The defiant sparkle was back in her eyes and she was now spitting fire about what had happened. He was sitting on the closed toilet sharing a cigarette with her while she dusted powder over her face to set her foundation. 

‘That bastard.’ she muttered. ‘I can’t believe I let him put his hands on me.’ 

‘It happens.’ Ross replied. ‘I have to say you’re taking this whole thing very well.’

‘What?’ Cilla asked. ‘The fact that I have only just found out that you’re married to the adopted son of a couple of de facto organised crime lords?’ She snorted. ‘It’s not like my life can get any fucking weirder right now. And I have to say that super dull thing of Jim’s worked. I would never have suspected a goddamn thing so I might be in a little bit of shock. But fuck it. Gino’s a cunt and a liar and I am more than happy to see the back of him and anything that lets me get to keep my face intact and have him out of my fucking life is good with me.’ She sighed. ‘This was just a slap. A hard one, but it could have been worse. He told me it would be the next time. The next time, he said I’d lose fucking teeth.’ 

‘Jesus.’ Ross said, feeling the anger bubbling back up again.

‘So is Jim really going to kill him?” Cilla asked. ‘Because that’s a little psycho if you must know.’

‘Is that a problem?’ Ross asked. ‘Because we’re kind of trusting you here.’

‘And that is why I love you.’ Cilla replied and now her voice was completely serious. ‘I know what this means, Ross. And yes, you can trust me. As far as I am concerned, Gino beat me and I called you to come and help me because you’re my best friend. I went to stay with someone you know for a few days because we were worried he’d find me at your place. Then I took a little holiday. Anything that happens while I’m gone, I don’t want to know.’ 

‘Deal.’ Ross said. ‘I had no idea you were this mercenary or this vengeful.’ He grinned. ‘I like it. It’s better than that shadow that opened the fucking door.’ Cilla stood back from the sink, checking her make up. 

‘To be honest, this has been kind of sitting in my head for about a month already.’ she said. That made Ross pay attention. 

‘This wasn’t the first time, was it?’ he asked, horrified that he hadn’t even suspected. 

‘It’s been kind of progressive.’ Cilla replied, applying a slash of scarlet lipstick. ‘It started with him shoving me around and then the first time it happened was while you were on honeymoon. He didn’t hit me in the face though. He kept it below the neck so that the bruises wouldn’t show.’ 

‘Fuck.’ Ross got up and went to her, but she calmly held him back with one hand. 

‘Don’t.’ she said. ‘I’ve been holding it together so far but if you’re too nice to me, I’ll start fucking crying again.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I’m just very grateful you’re doing this for me.’

‘He’s not going to hurt you anymore.’ Ross replied. Cilla nodded and then gave him a considering look. 

‘This is also personal isn’t it?’ she asked. ‘What Jim’s going to do?’

‘A little.’ Ross replied. ‘Gino’s family killed someone he loved a long time ago. How did you know?’

‘His face when he said he was going to take care of him.’ Cilla said. ‘He looked…well he looked like he does when anyone ever insults you in his presence. I always thought it was just him being a bitchy queen, but now I know that’s not even half if it, is it?’

‘I wasn’t joking when I said he’s dangerous.’ Ross replied. ‘Even though he’s officially retired.’

‘Christ.’ Cilla looked at him. ‘How the fuck did this even happen? You and him?’

‘I really don’t have the time to tell you tonight.’ Ross said. ‘But when you come back, I will.’

**********

Jim waited while Ross went with Cilla to get her sorted out. He knew this was risky, but he also knew that this was what Ross wanted and he would do anything for him, even put his trust in Cilla. Ross had told him that she’d never ever broken his confidence and he knew enough to know that she and Ross were a lot closer than he’d first thought, and that her initial frostiness had been born of jealousy.

He just hoped this was the case now. If not, then he’d have to get rid of her too.

‘Jim?’ Ross’ voice came down the corridor and Jim went into the hall to see them standing there. Cilla went to turn everything off and they left the apartment, he and Ross each pulling one massive suitcase. 

‘You sure you got everything?’ Jim asked. ‘It’s unlikely you’ll be able to get anything from here afterwards.’ 

‘Got everything I need.’ Cilla replied. ‘I’m leaving with a lot more than I came, believe me.’

They caught a cab downstairs and Jim gave the driver Jurgis’ address. He could feel Ross looking at him, curiosity in his eyes at the unfamiliar location. The drover took them directly to the Upper West Side near to the university. They arrived in a line of old houses and the cab stopped outside one that was Gothic in design. It had a set of impressive stone steps leading up to it. Jim opened the door and got out. 

‘Could you wait?’ he asked the driver. ‘We’ll be about ten minutes.’ 

‘No problem.’ The driver replied, and Jim held out his hand to Cilla who was busy saying good bye to Ross.

‘You stay here.’ he said to him. ‘He won’t let you in.’ Jurgis was very particular about who came in the house and he had yet to meet Ross. Cilla was an exception because of her gender and her circumstances and Jim was assured that Jurgis would treat her well and deliver her to the airport once she’d made her arrangements. He rang the doorbell and Cilla gave him a slightly nervous look. The cab driver was bringing up her suitcases. 

‘So this guy’s on the level?’ she asked and Jim nodded.

‘You’ll be very safe with him.’ he said. ‘He’ll organise the travel arrangements for you and get you to JFK. Choose somewhere very far and very high profile. Make sure everyone sees you every day. Order a fuckload of room service or lie at the pool and drink. Get spa treatments. Anything that will document your whereabouts.’ He was pleased to see she was listening carefully. ‘When you come back, everything will be taken care of.’ 

‘Thank you, Jim.’ Cilla said. ‘I mean it. I know I’ve given you kind of a hard time, but it’s because..’

‘It’s because you love him.’ Jim interjected. ‘I know. I love him too.’ Cilla looked at him and then the door opened to reveal a tall man in his fifties with a sharp featured face and greying hair. He was extremely handsome and beautifully dressed in dark grey trousers and waistcoat, a snowy white shirt underneath with the collar open. He smelt of fine tobacco and leather and Jim nodded at him. 

‘James.’ Jurgis said and then looked at Cilla. ‘This is the young lady?’ He held out one hand and then kissed Cilla’s knuckles when she took it. ‘You are a lovely creature. What is your name, my dear?’

‘Priscilla.’ Cilla replied and Jim hid his smile. Jurgis had that effect on people. 

‘Priscilla.’ he repeated. ‘Charming. Please, come in.’ He turned to Jim. ‘I shall deliver her safely to her destination.’ Jim looked at Cilla and nodded encouragingly. 

‘We’ll see you when we get back.’ he said. Cilla didn’t reply. Jurgis took a couple of steps out to get her cases and take them inside and closed the door behind them. He jogged back down the steps and got into the car. As he did, there was a sonar ping from his phone and he checked the message that had just come through. 

‘Christ, they were being serious.’ he grumbled and Ross smiled broadly, his worry having evaporated now he knew Cilla was safe. Jim knew that he trusted him implicitly.

‘So we’re going?’ he asked and Jim sighed and leaned forward to the driver. 

‘Rockefeller Centre, please.’ he said. 

**********

It was a mistake. 

Jim overbalanced horribly and went forward like a felled tree. Thankfully, Ross caught him and stopped him from completely smashing his face in on the ice. 

‘I don’t understand.’ he laughed as he helped Jim back onto his feet. ‘How do you suck this much at this?’ 

‘Because it’s stupid.’ Jim snapped back and Ross grinned at him. He steadied Jim and then took his hand. 

‘Come on, one more time.’ he said. Jim sighed and then shot a poisonous look at the two men blithely sailing past them, holding hands and gliding effortlessly as they made another circuit of the rink. 

‘I hate them.’ he hissed and Ross laughed. 

‘You can’t hate them.’ he replied. ‘Now, just follow my lead.’

‘I don’t understand how the fuck you know how to skate.’ Jim said. 

‘I like skating and long legs help.’ Ross replied. ‘We’ll go slowly so you don’t fall over again.’ They managed to make a full circuit this time and Jim started to feel a little more at ease on his feet. They even got a rhythm going, skating along hand in hand. 

‘So who is that guy, by the way?’ Ross asked as they went along and Jim chuckled. 

‘You really don’t want to know.’ he said and Ross raised both eyebrows at him.

‘He’s not part of your lot?’ he asked. 

‘No he’s not.’ Jim replied. ‘He’s part of our lot.’

‘Fuck.’ Ross said and stopped short. That pulled Jim back and he ended up in Ross’ arms again. ‘Is Cilla safe there?’

‘I told you she was.’ Jim replied, hanging there like a suspension bridge. ‘Could you help me up please?’ He waited until he was upright again. ‘And she’s not Jurgis’ type.’

‘What is his type?’ Ross asked. 

‘People who do the sort of thing that happened to Cilla.’ Jim replied. ‘He’s got an oddly protective streak.’ 

‘Interesting.’ Ross said. He looked down at Jim and then leaned across the gap between him and kissed him. ‘Thank you. For doing all this.’ Jim smiled and kissed him back.

‘Anything for you, beautiful boy.’ he replied.


	5. Goodwill To All Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Day...

Christmas Day dawned with anaemic grey light and Ross wanted nothing more than to spend the day in bed. He’d just been woken by a text from his family wishing them a Merry Christmas. True to form, they had ignored the time difference. He and the others had had had a fairly late night, skating turning into dinner at home. Silver had surpassed himself, producing a magnificent spread that had involved far too much food and far too much wine. They had all gone to bed fairly drunk and very happy. Cilla had also texted him to say that Jurgis was being a perfect gentleman and that she’d sent the single text message Jim had instructed her to Gino, telling him that she was having second thoughts and needed some time to think. True to Jim’s prediction there had been a flurry of texts back from Gino begging for forgiveness and stating that what had happened would not happen again. Cilla had ignored the texts and confirmed that she now had a flight out of New York to Cancun the next afternoon. 

That had bought up the question of logistics and how things had changed at dinner. It had been decided that a more direct approach was needed. Elf had called Jim and they’d had a long conversation which had confirmed that she had successfully hacked the security system and was now able to pretty much control every aspect of the house on Long Island. Everything was going to be set for the twenty-eighth and they were going in quietly, just the three of them. It had been decided that Flint, Jim and Ross would go in and get the four men out, then they would drive them to the pine barrens at Manorville. It was deserted at this time of the year, the bad weather meaning that no-one got any deeper in than the roads. There were several maintenance routes that would lead right into the heart of the land, over one hundred thousand acres of desolate wilderness, and it would be months if not years before anyone found the Colluscos. 

There was a shove in his back and a mumbled order from beneath the duvet and Ross smiled. Jim with a hangover was even grumpier than he normally was in the mornings he was off and was being disturbed. 

‘I’m sorry.’ Ross turned and snuggled back down, sticking his phone under his pillow. ‘I don’t speak grumble.’

‘Fuck you.’ Jim muttered from somewhere below. ‘Christ, my head hurts.’ He looked up at Ross from his duvet cave and glared at him. ‘I blame you entirely.’

‘I’m not the one that thought bottle number four was a good idea.’ Ross replied. He moved in closer, getting Jim into his arms and cuddling him. Jim settled in under his chin and stuck his hands under Ross’ t-shirt. ‘And Merry Christmas by the way.’

‘Food.’ Jim replied into his chest. ‘I’m not committing to anything until I have food.’ He nosed at the underside of Ross’ jaw. ‘It’s all I want for Christmas. For you to feed me and then later, when the old buggers have passed out on the sofa, for you to fuck me.’ That made Ross laugh. He turned them so he could kiss Jim on the mouth. 

‘If I give you food will you turn into a human?’ he asked.

‘No promises.’ Jim muttered and disappeared from sight. Ross got up, still snickering at him, and went to the bathroom. When he was done he stumbled into the closet and pulled on some clothes. The dogs had taken advantage of his absence and vaulted onto the bed with Jim, worming their way under the duvet so there was now a large lump and two smaller ones beneath it. He couldn’t be quite sure whether the snoring noises were coming from his husband or his canine companions though.

Downstairs he was surprised to find Silver already up and making breakfast pastries from scratch. Ross knew that this was how he thought. Jim had told him that whenever Silver was processing something he cooked. Now there was flour over the black granite surfaces and two trays full of freshly baked peach danishes, the glossy yellow globes sitting on beds of pale crème patissiere, and apple turnovers topped with flaked almonds and dusted in icing sugar. There was a fresh pot of coffee that had just started brewing. The rest of the other counter had been taken up with the roasting trays, one full of peeled and cut potatoes and another with the standing three rib beef roast that he and Flint had bought home the day before. One of Jim’s glass mixing bowls had quartered parsnips and carrots and there was even a bowl of Yorkshire pudding batter which was maturing. 

‘Christ, you’re organised.’ Ross said as he came in and Silver smiled and accepted a hug from him. ‘Merry Christmas.’

‘Merry Christmas, lad.’ he replied. ‘Sit down, I’ll get you a coffee.’ He took out the pot and filled a mug and then bought it over. ‘Glad to see you’re alive after last night.’ 

‘My family may be bastards but we’re all hard drinkers.’ Ross said. ‘Where’s Flint.’ 

‘Submerged in the bedclothes.’ Silver chuckled. He poured himself his own mug of coffee and then came over after chucking a few danishes and turnovers on a plate. ‘Actually this is good. We need to have a little chat.’

‘What about?’ Ross asked, grabbing a Danish and making obscene noises when he bit into it. ‘Okay what do we have to do to get you to move here?’ Silver laughed. 

‘There’s nothing you could possible offer me.’ he replied. ‘Cities and I don’t mix well, lad. I get homicidal after about a week.’

‘You haven’t killed anyone yet.’ Ross countered. ‘And even though he doesn’t say it, Jim really loves having you here.’ 

‘I know.’ Silver said. ‘And I have to say the feeling is mutual. I think that my old age is catching up with me. Ever since you came to visit, I’ve been thinking far too much.’ He sighed and sat back in his chair. ‘One of the things that’s bothering me is what we’re going to be doing and the fact that you’re coming along.’

‘You having second thoughts?’ Ross asked. 

‘Not about killing them, no.’ Silver said. ‘But I do worry about you. You’re not a professional, Ross. And that means that you could get hurt. These people aren’t like normal people. These people are killers in their own right.’ He dipped his turnover in his coffee and took a huge bite out of it. ‘So what I am proposing is this. I’ll go in with Jim and Flint. You drive the car.’ 

‘I can do that.’ Ross replied. ‘You think it’ll be better this way.’ 

‘I do, lad.’ Silver said. ‘Not that that job requires any less in the way of skill. You’ll need to be spot on with timing and if anything kicks off, you have to be prepared to leave us behind.’ That made Ross look up in shock. 

‘What?’ he asked and Silver nodded gravely. 

‘I need you to be able to do it.’ he said. ‘It’s also why I want you in the car. If shit does start, then you get away and you know nothing about what we were doing. If we get in a situation, we can get ourselves out of it but not if we’re looking after you and Jim will do anything to ensure that you get out safely.’

‘You think there’s going to be trouble.’ It wasn’t a question.

‘I called up a couple of people last night.’ Silver said. ‘After you two went to bed. The Colluscos had got some heavy security they move with, but they dispense with some of them when they go to Long Island. Apparently Diana’s not a fan of people hulking around her house. It still means though that we have to get rid of about five people, and that will take experience and being able to do the job professionally. I think in light of what’s happened, no-one’s getting out.’

‘You’re getting rid of everyone?’ Ross asked and Silver nodded.

‘Neater that way.’ he said. ‘Jim was worried about not hurting Cilla but we don’t need to be concerned about that now.’ He took another Danish. ‘The Collusco organisation won’t care about the women, they’re disposable. They’ll make it look like they just all went away.’

‘And them?’ Ross asked. 

‘Where we’re dumping them is a mess.’ Silver said. ‘Marshland, almost impossible to get through in winter. Not even the Forestry department goes in there until about April when it all starts thawing out. By then, they’ll be well on their way. It might even be longer than that, where we’re planning on taking them.’ 

‘Flint knows though.’ Ross said, realising that this must all be coming from him. ‘That’s why he suggested it.’ A smile crossed his face as he wondered if there were others lying lost in the barrens, put there by Flint’s hand. He knew that unlike Silver, Flint was prone to disappearing off grid for weeks at a time and that his approach to the business was still very much hands on.

‘He’s used the barrens before.’ Silver had a wry smile on his face. ‘You might have wondered where Jim learned his trade.’ 

‘I know that the smuggling was you.’ Ross said. 

‘And the interrogation techniques were Diego.’ Silver said. ‘But the other stuff, that was Flint.’ He got up and came back with the coffee pot to refill their cups. Ross thanked him and ran a finger along the edge, the porcelain smooth. 

‘I find that very interesting.’ he said. ‘I love hearing where Jim comes from.’

‘We knew pretty early on what we were dealing with.’ Silver said. ‘Training was needed and Flint has more experience in that particular area.’ He smiled at Ross over his cup. ‘He was the enforcer when we were just starting out. He has a ruthless streak that might surprise you.’

‘I don’t think it does.’ Ross replied. ‘I knew full well what I was marrying into.’

‘I know, lad. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better match for him.’ Silver said. ‘Or for us.’

‘So Flint was what Jim was?’ Ross asked. ‘The one who basically killed the people that stepped out of line?’

‘If they couldn’t be intimidated into complying or they broke the rules, then yes.’ Silver said. ‘Loose ends are bad for business.’

‘Which is why you want all of them tied up.’ Ross said. ‘That makes a lot of sense.’ He frowned then as something occurred to him. ‘Won’t the Colluscos come after you though?’

‘Not for a while and only if they figure out who did the hit.’ Silver’s smile was wolfish. ‘There’s going to be a shitload of infighting. If we pull this off, we’re taking out the two top leadership strata. The ones left are still too young to take over and so it’s going to be a dogfight until they sort out all that shit.’ He grinned. ‘They are very traditional and that’s going to fuck them up for a long time.’ He chuckled. ‘It’s going to be quite something. The repercussions of this are going to go all the way up and down the East coast.’ He toasted Ross with his coffee cup. ‘And very good for business, if I may say. And all thanks to you.’ Ross laughed and returned the toast. 

‘Glad I could help.’ he replied. 

‘Christ.’ Jim’s voice came from the door. Ross turned and grinned when he saw that he had his sweats and one of his favourite Star Wars t-shirts on, wearing his thick charcoal robe left open and a pair of surprisingly fuzzy socks on his feet. It was a look that never failed to delight him, knowing that Jim loved to cut up people for fun. ‘I can hear the fucking conspiring from here.’

‘Come sit, lad.’ John got up. ‘I’ll go wake up Flint and we can do presents.’ Jim came to sit down next to Ross and glared at him, accepting the cup of coffee from Silver before he went off to rouse the sleeping dead.

‘You were supposed to bring me food.’ he said. ‘Not yak with your father-in-law.’

‘We were talking about what is going to happen.’ Ross replied. ‘Where are the boys?’

‘Still under the duvet.’ Jim mumbled through a mouthful of Danish. ‘What did he say?’

‘That I’m driving.’ Ross said. ‘He said that nobody’s coming out now that Cilla’s not going to be there.’

‘Good idea.’ Jim moaned happily as he consumed the rest of the Danish. ‘This is so fucking good. If only we could have this all the time.’ Then he gave Ross a smile that made Ross sit up and pay attention. 

‘What did you do?’ he asked. 

‘Nothing.’ Jim took another Danish and the smile was now Cheshire Cat smug. 

‘Liar.’ Ross retorted and then looked down into the living room as Silver returned with a very sleepy Flint in tow. It made Ross snicker to see that he had the same velour robe as Jim, only in deep wine red. 

‘Apples and trees spring to mind.’ he said to Jim and Jim gave him the finger.

‘Go get the presents.’ he instructed and Ross huffed and got up, heading for the tree. He ferried the assorted gifts to the table and sat back down. Silver had refilled the plate of pastries and Flint was now working his way through them. 

‘Yours.’ Silver said, taking one that was wrapped in plain silver paper and handing it to Ross across the table. ‘Youngest opens first.’ Ross grinned and took it, then ripped the paper off. His face lit up as he looked at the box, then opened it. He had noticed that it was a bit of a family thing with them. The Rolex Oyster in the box was different to the one Jim wore. His had a deep blue face, while this one was an elegant charcoal grey. He looked up to see all three of them watching him in anticipation. 

‘Look at the back.’ Silver said and Ross turned the watch over and saw the inscription.

You’re one of us now.

He looked back up and smiled at them, a warmth filling him that he seldom felt. It was wonderful and he was so happy right at that moment he could barely get words out. 

‘Thank you.’ he replied. ‘All of you.’ 

‘You’re welcome, lad.’ Silver said. ‘Although I don’t need to point out that it probably also means you’re a little fucked.’

‘I don’t care.’ Ross took the watch out the box and put it on, stretching out his arm to admire it. ‘I’ve never felt like I’ve had a proper family before and now I have one that is perfect for me.’

‘Amen to that.’ Flint said and stuck half a turnover in his mouth.

The rest of the presents were unwrapped until there was only one left. It was another small box and the tartan paper it was wrapped in marked as one that Jim had bought. He’ wrapped the others in the same, including Ross’ signed script of Breakfast At Tiffany’s which had made him scream quite loudly. Jim picked it up and chucked it at Silver, a shadow of that same wicked smile on his face.

‘Here, old man.’ he said. ‘That’s for you two.’

‘Really?’ Silver frowned. ‘What is it?’ He looked slightly suspicious.

‘Open it and find out.’ Jim’s dimples were flickering madly. Silver looked at Flint, who shrugged. He undid the ribbon and lifted the lid off the box and then looked confused. He took out a key ring shaped like the Empire State building and stared at the three keys on it. Ross snuck a look at Jim, noticing how his eyes were fixed on Silver’s face. 

‘What the hell are these for?’ Silver asked. Getting no answer from Jim, he looked at Ross. 

‘Don’t ask me?’ he said. 

‘If I had told you, you would have blabbed.’ Jim said. ‘You know how you are with presents.’ He looked far too smug and then the penny dropped. 

‘You didn’t.’ Ross stared at him. ‘It was like, over a million dollars.’

‘I happen to be very rich.’ Jim replied in a completely deadpan tone. ‘I just haven’t told you exactly how rich.’ He got up. ‘And you’re the one that said it would be nice if they visited more often.’ Silver gave Ross the raised eyebrows. 

‘Funny, he’s been saying the same to me.’ he said and Jim snorted. 

‘Well, he’s not wrong.’ he replied, getting up. ‘Come on, I’ll show you where those go.’

They all ended up in the front hall staring at the door next door. The neighbours from hell had finally departed after the blowjob on the roof incident, and it had been standing empty for about a month. Silver looked back at Jim who made a ‘get on with it’ gesture and then opened the door. Ross was beside himself. He’d wanted to get in and scout the place out ever since he’d moved in. 

It took up the rest of the ground floor and the basement level. Like their apartment it had two bedroom suites and a lovely kitchen at the back with a door into the garden. Unfortunately the previous occupants had had a love of chintz. 

‘Well, it needs to be redecorated.’ Flint said, wrinkling his nose at the honey toned fitted kitchen with blond marble countertops. ‘This is fucking awful.’

‘Well it’s yours.’ Jim said. ‘So you can do what the fuck you want with it.’

‘Christ, lad.’ Silver shook his head. ‘Thank you.’ He walked over and bear hugged Jim, making him wriggle in protest as he was crushed. He finally managed to extricate himself and found Ross looking at him. 

‘But I can’t have my own theatre?’ he asked. Jim grinned. 

‘When they die, you can sell this and buy one.’ he replied and walked off back to the front door.

***********

Lunch was being made and Ross was sprawled on the sofa, laughing at the aghast look on Flint’s face. 

‘I don’t.’ he replied.

‘Christ.’ Flint looked towards the kitchen and gave Jim a look. ‘You haven’t taught him?’

‘Ross is a knife guy.’ Jim replied. ‘He doesn’t like firearms.’ 

‘That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t teach him how to handle one correctly.’ Flint replied and turned back to Ross. ‘I taught Jim to shoot as soon as possible. It’s why he’s so good at it.’

‘I’ve seen.’ Ross gave Jim a smile and Jim returned it as he chopped up the potatoes. ‘He’s right though, I’m not very keen.’

‘You’ll have to take him tomorrow.’ Flint replied. ‘He can’t do the job without at least knowing which end is which.’ 

‘That’s going to look extremely suspicious.’ Jim replied. ‘He’ll just have to go without for now.’ 

‘No.’ Flint already had his phone out. ‘There’s a range down in Jersey. They’ll keep you off the books. It’s run by one of those nutty prepper types.’ 

‘Fine.’ Jim sighed. ‘But only the basics.’

‘Fine.’ Flint said. ‘But make sure he gets them well enough that if he needs to use it he can without getting skittish about it.’

‘I’ll be in the car though.’ Ross said. ‘Well away from the action.’ He couldn’t quite keep the disappointment out of his voice. 

‘And wisely so.’ Flint replied. ‘But if it all goes well, then you get Gino.’ That made Ross perk up immediately.

‘I do?’ He looked at Jim and Jim nodded.

‘Seems fair.’ he said. ‘But we’ll take him back with us. The last thing we need is him running through the marsh in the middle of the night.’ 

‘And the others?’ Ross asked. He was full of curiosity and watched as they all exchanged looks. 

‘We do it the usual way.’ Jim replied. ‘Two taps, back of the head.’

‘Really?’ Ross grinned. He’d never see someone being shot so close up and his experience in Miami had been a little distracted due to the fact that the people doing the shooting had been mostly shooting at them. 

‘But those fuckers will get to watch their sons go first.’ Flint’s voice was hard. ‘Then we take care of them. Leave them there.’ His face was full of repressed rage and Ross felt a shiver go through him. ‘It’s more than they deserve. They didn’t even leave us that.’

‘And then he can sleep.’ Jim said and Ross could hear the sadness underneath the anger. ‘Then we’ve done him justice.’ He took a deep breath and blew it out. Silver went to him and put his arm around him. 

‘You know he’d be proud.’ he said. Ross watched the exchange and was surprised that he didn’t feel jealous in the slightest. He’d expected to, but all he felt was happiness that Jim would be able to get revenge for Andres, to lay him to rest once and for all. He knew that if anything happened to Jim, he would move heaven and hell to do the same. 

The sombre note evaporated once lunch was ready and they sat around the table once again. In spite of the magnificence of the setting, they were all in jeans and t-shirts, socked feet bare of shoes and laughing together as they ate. More than once, Jim reached for Ross’ hand over the table and he gave it, snickering at Flint’s awful readings of the cracker jokes and gorging on Silver’s immaculately cooked roast beef. It was all so frighteningly normal, the four of them like a normal family enjoying the holiday together. 

‘That’s two Christmases in a row now.’ Jim said to Silver. ‘It’s becoming a habit.’ 

‘On the contrary.’ Silver replied. ‘It’s long overdue.’

***********

Boxing Day saw Ross and Jim avoiding the madness of the sales and driving through the tunnel to Jersey. Now they were in a dingy basement in a very questionable part of town.

‘Harder.’ Jim’s voice was encouraging.

‘Fuck off.’ Ross replied.

‘It’s not going to go off if you don’t do it harder.’ Jim said. ‘And remember to squeeze it, not jerk it.’

‘Jesus fuck.’ Ross sounded exasperated. ‘This is ridiculous. It looks so easy when other people do it.’

‘That’s because it’s the movies, baby.’ Jim said. ‘They make everything look easy. A little bit harder.’

Ross winced and squeezed and the resounding boom and recoil made him flinch. He eventually opened his eyes to see Jim shaking his head.

‘You do realise that trying to shoot with your eyes closed is a very bad idea, don’t you?’ he said and Ross glared at him.

‘Yeah, I get that bit.’ he made a face. ‘I hate it. It’s horrible, it feels wrong and it’s fucking noisy.’

‘It’s a handgun, Ross.’ Jim said. ‘Not a feather duster.’ He stepped in and moved behind Ross, reaching up to adjust his stance. ‘You’re too stiff.’ Ross snickered.

‘That’s the first time you’ve ever told me that.’ he said. The comment made the two burly men next to them give them both a weird look. Jim grinned ever so threateningly at them and they turned back to their own targets. 

‘You need to loosen up.’ he said and put his hands on Ross’ shoulders. ‘And bring these down, they’re up around your ears.’ Ross huffed and tried to relax. They’d been at the range for an hour already, and he was bored and tired and the Sig got heavier with every shot. ‘Again.’

Ross sighed heavily and lifted the pistol, sighting along the barrel like Jim had taught him. The Sig was solid, and kicked like a bad tempered equine. Jim moved up next to him, adjusting Ross’ grip. Up ahead of him, the target waited for him to invariably miss.

‘You ever watch Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves?’ Jim asked and Ross frowned. He was used to Jim’s weird as fuck tangents but this one he didn’t get.

‘No.’ he said. Next to him Jim chuckled and then leaned in and blew gently along his neck and all of Ross’ focus went into making the hairs on his arms stand up. It really didn’t help that Jim had now moved to stand behind him, hands on his hips and holding him still.

‘Remember to breathe.’ he said and Ross could hear the smile in his voice.

‘Bastard.’ he muttered and then aimed and fired. When he looked again, it seemed as if he’d actually hit something.

‘Much better.’ Jim said. ‘Seems you shoot better on an empty head.’ He chuckled as he stepped back. Ross lowered the weapon and turned to look at him.

‘Do you think I won’t shoot you?’ he said. ‘Because I fucking will.’

‘No, you won’t.’ Jim was smiling now, and he stepped forward and took the gun from Ross’ hands. ‘I think that’s probably enough for the day.’ Ross rolled his shoulder, feeling the stiffness.

‘What about you?’ he asked.

‘What about me?’ Jim looked at him.

‘Well, we’ve been here an hour and I have yet to see you shoot.’ Ross pointed out.

‘That’s because today was about teaching you.’ Jim replied. ‘I already know how to shoot.’

‘Are you afraid you’re going to fuck up in front of me?’ Ross was grinning. ‘Afraid I’m going to find out you’re nowhere near as hardcore as you like to make out.’ He said it to get a rise out of Jim and was delighted when Jim gave him a look with just a hint of fire in it.

‘I don’t fuck up.’ he said and the assurance he gave those words made Ross’ stomach knot. He decided to push it a little further.

‘Still.’ he said. ‘How do I know that you’re even…’ he stopped, startled as Jim turned back to the target, bringing the Sig up in both hands in one perfectly fluid movement and pulling the trigger with such control that it seemed absolutely effortless. The gun fired constantly in succession until the mag was empty and their booth was filled with smoke. Then he lowered the gun and hit the target recall with one hand.

Ross gaped as the piece of paper ran along the wire towards them and he saw the perfectly grouped collection of holes, all placed over the target’s face. Jim placed the Sig on the stand and went to take it down. He brought it over, slamming it into Ross’ chest before crowding into his space, blue-green eyes gleaming with a predatory look that made Ross’ pulse pick up speed.

‘Like I said.’ His voice was low, confident. ‘I don’t fuck up.’ He gave Ross a lazy half-smile, his eyes dropping to focus on Ross’ slightly parted lips. ‘Cat got your tongue, baby?’  
‘We have to go home.’ Ross breathed. ‘I need you to fuck me right now.’

‘Why wait till we get home?’ Jim said and his dimples flashed. ‘We have a car downstairs in the parking garage.’

‘You’re a fucking dead man.’ Ross could hardly keep the arousal out of his voice. Jim smirked at him.

‘We’ll see about that.’ he replied.


	6. Gotcha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to go in...

The twenty-eighth was a Saturday. It was also horrible weather and that made Jim extremely cheerful. As he explained to Ross, the worse the weather, the better their chances of not running into trouble. 

They were all in living room. It was just getting on for one in the morning and sorting out the gear. Ross was sitting perched on the back of the sofa, feet resting on the seat. He was in jeans and boots like Jim, his heavy coat slung over the chair next to him. Because he was driving he was not dressed like the others, all in black. Jim was standing next to him, checking over the weapon he’d been given to use by Flint. They had gone out the day before and come back with bags of shopping from the Union Square market and underneath the winter greens had been a shopping bag with three semi-automatic pistols in it, along with spare magazines and ammunition. Jim had shown Ross how the serial numbers were filed off, and then explained that they would be disposing of the weapons in the marshes as well, but in a different location.

‘They only search about a hundred and fifty yard radius.’ Jim said. ‘It’s procedure.’ He grinned. ‘The average patrol officer doesn’t think outside the box very much. We’ll chuck them on the way back, somewhere nice and muddy.’ He sighted down the barrel of his weapon and then holstered it in the shoulder rig, putting the spare mag in the other side. He also had his Civilian in his ankle sheath and the whole thing was making Ross dreamy eyed just looking at him. 

‘Almost time.’ Flint said and checked his watch. ‘Which way are we going?’

‘Out the back.’ Jim replied. ‘Over the wall.’

‘Neighbours?’ Silver asked. 

‘Barbados.’ Jim replied and Ross looked at him in astonishment.

‘How the hell did you know that?’ he asked and Jim laughed. 

‘I asked Elf.’ he said. 

‘I like Elf.’ Ross replied. ‘She’s cool.’

‘You need to meet her girlfriend.’ Jim replied. 

‘Enough chit chat.’ Flint said. He was putting on his coat. ‘Let’s get going.’ 

‘They left via the newly acquired basement flat kitchen and made their way to the rear wall, a ten foot tall brick affair. To Ross’ surprise, Flint did a nifty little parkour thing and ended up on top of it. He then hauled up Silver and Jim and they extended their hands down and helped Ross up, then all made it down the other side. 

‘This is so cool.’ Ross hissed. ‘It’s like James Bond.’

‘Shut up, Ross.’ Jim hissed back over his shoulder, but Ross caught the smile as he went down the alley that ran between the two houses behind their building. They came out onto a deserted street. The frigid weather meant that nobody was out if they could help it and they saw no-one as they walked four streets up, heads down and caps pulled over their eyes. They were all gloved and had their collars turned up for good measure, not only because of the cold. They criss-crossed the streets constantly and Ross knew why that was. Jim had a thing about CCTV and made it his business to know exactly where it was and where it wasn’t. They didn’t have anything electronic on them either, so no signals to track. Whatever they needed would be in the car. 

Ross was very impressed with the organisation of their enterprise. He hadn’t really seen much of it at all, but now he could see why they were so successful and why it kept them in New York brownstones. Tomas and Ruben were retired from the day to day runnings but they had their fingers in places and had supplied the car and would be disposing of it afterwards. Jim had told Ross that cars like this were broken down into parts and the rest taken to one of the many junk yards in the city and crushed. It had false plates and was common enough that it would be an age before the cops tracked it down, if they ever did. The tyres would end up recycled into who knew what. All of this meant that by the time the police started investigating the actual crime, almost all the physical evidence would be disposed of. 

They stopped and waited on a corner where Jim had led them and after a few minutes a van pulled up. Silver opened the back door to reveal an empty interior and he, Flint and Jim got in. Ross went to the passenger side as he’d been instructed to and opened the door. He saw that the driver was a young woman, her bright red hair twisted into a knot on top of her head. She smiled at him as he got on and did up his seatbelt, then turned around to address the three in the back.

‘Jim.’ she said with a grin. ‘Long time no see.’ She turned back to give Ross a thorough once over. ‘And who’s this?’

‘Cam.’ Jim said. ‘This is Ross. Ross this is Cam.’

‘Nice to meet you.’ Cam said and winked at Ross. She had a rockabilly fringe, winged eyeliner and paua shell gauges in her ears. She looked in the rear view mirror. ‘Nice to see you gentlemen.’

‘Nice to see you too, lass.’ Silver replied. ‘How’s your dad?’

‘Good.’ Cam replied. ‘He’s off the booze, so you know. Grumpy as fuck all Christmas.’ She chuckled as she drove the van out into traffic. ‘I have to say I never thought I’d see you lot out here at this time of the year.’

‘Well, never look a gift horse in the mouth.’ Flint said. ‘Where are we going?’ 

‘I’ll get you as far as Jackson heights.’ Cam said. ‘Then you can take over. Just bring the van back to the same place and we’ll get rid of it.’

‘Will do.’ Jim said. ‘Thanks for doing this on such short notice.’

‘No problem. Beat’s having to go to my in-laws for dinner tonight.’ Cam said. Ross noticed that she had tattoos peeking out under both sleeves of her denim shirt and wondered what they were. They kept driving through the city and out over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Jackson Heights. Ross recognised the route from their trips to Willet’s Point. Cam pulled up outside a body shop and hopped out, engine still running. Ross got out as well and moved to take her place. She gave them a cheery wave as she melted into the shadows between buildings and Ross did up his seatbelt and started driving. Jim had moved to sit behind him on the floor of the van, directing him but staying out of sight.  
The street lights flashed past and they drove through the suburbs, taking a fairly roundabout route. Ross was impressed with Jim’s almost photographic memory of the roads and filed it away to ask him about later. He knew that Jim had had other dumping grounds before he’d gotten the Willet’s Point place, although the stargazers were the only kills of his that had ever been found. It was impressive to think that of Jim’s tally, only seven had been found. This was a little different though. This was business rather than pleasure.  
By the time they got to Southampton it was after two-thirty and the tension in the van had ratcheted up. Ross recognised Jim’s alertness, knew it intimately. It was interesting to see it in Silver and Flint as well. He had his instructions, to drop them off about a mile from the house and to head down the road to the open lot that had a large house under construction. He would wait there until the designated time and they called him to come and get them. If there was a problem, then a single text message would be sent and he was to drive back to Manhattan and wait. The house itself was on Meadow Land, just two houses down from the Halsey neck parking lot. 

They came through Art Village on Hills street and then turned down Halsey Neck Lane to head towards the beach. On the left just before they got to Meadow Lane there was a large stretch of open ground and Ross slowed to stop in the shadows long enough for the others to climb out the back. Jim stopped very briefly to give him a lightning quick kiss.

‘Remember.’ he murmured and Ross nodded. Then Jim closed the door, quietly so there was only the smallest sound, and melted into the darkness. Ross waited until there was no sight of them and then turned off his lights and drove to the junction and turned to the right. He kept going down until he saw the lot on his left and pulled onto the side of the road opposite the lot. He killed the engine and settled in for the hour’s wait. 

****

Jim watched the van disappear down the road and moved into the scrub. Silver and Flint were waiting for him and they all moved as one. The night air was frigid and their breath steamed, but it was the only sign of them as they kept in the dark. 

They got to the road and crouched down as they watched the house as they took gloves and beanies from their pockets and put them on. Flint had taken a small pair of night vision binoculars from his coat pocket and was looking through them as he surveyed the house. It was only just visible behind the thick hedge at the front and the gate was secured. Elf had told them that there was a series of cameras that ran the length of the hedge and were monitored from a security station inside the garage complex. At the precise time, she was going to cut the feed and loop in some earlier footage that would not alert any of the personnel the Colluscos had on the property and would give them the chance to get in at the boundary and take out the security before anyone knew what was happening. All the while the cameras would be showing nothing, disabled at Elf’s hand, and they would be nothing but ghosts that had spirited away the house’s most important occupants. 

Silver glanced at his watch and Jim watched him, smiling at the way Silver’s lips moved almost imperceptibly. It had been a long time since they had worked together and he was having a rather unexpected feeling of nostalgia. 

‘Time.’ Silver murmured and they moved out of the scrub and across the road, blending into the shadows cast by the hedge. The entry point was at the extreme left corner and they went straight to it. Flint took a pair of wire cutters from his other pocket and clipped a line down the fencing and then tugged it back just enough for them to get in. While they waited for him, Silver took out three earpieces and handed one to Jim. It was going to give them a line to Elf and she would direct them from there. Jim put his in and heard her low chuckle on the other side. 

‘Evening.’ she said and Jim grinned. ‘So, we have two at the gate, two on perimeter and one in the security station.’ There was no line of communication back, but he knew that she would be aware of everything they did. 

‘You’re on perimeter.’ Silver murmured to Flint. ‘Jim gets gate.’ He looked at Jim and Jim nodded. Flint held the fence back and he squeezed through, then stuck to the line of the hedge as he moved towards the gate, silent and barely visible. The garden itself was only illuminated by the house lights on the outside of the eaves that were motion-sensors that were linked into the security system and it was clear that no-one was awake inside, the windows all dark. The lights on the drive were on a timer, and so Elf now had control of these as well.

‘Lights out in five.’ her voice said and Jim started the countdown in his head, crouching and taking the Civilian from his ankle sheath. He eased the blade open and kept his eyes on the silhouette of the man that had walked into his line of sight. He knew the other one was on the other side of the drive, had caught a glow as the man had lit a cigarette. He’d have to work fast once the lights were cut.

The five count arrived and just as it did, Jim moved forward with a grace and speed that came as naturally as breathing as the driveway lights went out and left the whole garden in complete darkness. The man didn’t even hear him coming until Jim’s arm was around his neck and the Civilian was embedded deep at the crook where the vine and artery ran . Jim gave it a vicious twist and clamped his hand over the man’s mouth while he bought it back out and shoved him to the ground to bleed out. He heard the thump of the other guard’s footsteps and looked up, calculating the next five moves head. Thankfully the Colluscos chose their muscle from a pool of men that had a rather limited brain capacity, preferring brawn as their primary means of defence. The man made a clumsy pass at him, gun drawn but clearly hesitating. No doubt the Colluscos cautioned against firing their weapon in their well to do neighbourhood and it was all the time Jim needed to duck under the man’s arm and get the Civilian through the fifth and sixth ribs on his left side, straight through to the apex of the heart. The blade was long, just over four inches, and it was wickedly sharp, slicing through the man’s shirt and skin, through the tissue underneath. The bleeding was minimal, but Jim could feel from the way the man immediately started convulsing that he’d hit his target. It was something Flint had taught him right at the beginning and Jim had used it frequently when he needed to kill quickly. 

By the time the lights came back on after the designated period of ten minutes, both men lay dead. Jim had pulled them out of sight of the drive and was now waiting. Soon enough Flint appeared from around the side of the house and Jim got to his feet. Flint jogged across, but the motion sensor lights did not come on and Jim grinned as he heard Elf chuckle in his ear. 

‘Nicely done.’ she said. ‘John’s got the two in the security station as well. I would suggest putting the others in there.’

It took a while. The men where heavy and they had to deal with them one at a time. Jim’s two were first. They carried them over to the garage and found Silver at the door, waiting for them. Inside there was a line of four very expensive cars and a door to the security room. Inside, two more men lay on the floor, both of them with three shots to the chest from Silver’s small calibre weapon. The shots had not exited the bodies so there was no blood to deal with and the bodies from outside had been left to exsanguinate long enough for it to be mostly collected in their clothing and spilled into the ground. Flint used the same attack technique as Jim and the puncture wounds to the neck had done a good job. They laid the men down in a heap and locked the door as they exited. 

‘I’m unlocking the kitchen door round the back.’ Elf said in their ears. ‘I’ve got the cell phone signals, all upstairs. The housekeeper is at her sister in Queens and the maid is in a nightclub in Brooklyn right now.’ 

The walk to the kitchen was short, just along from the garage complex. The door was open as Elf had said it would be and Silver opened the doors, sliding them back with no noise. The room showed evidence of the night’s excesses with bottles and glasses crowding every available surface. The granite countertops were smeared with powdery residue which showed up white when their flashlights hit it. Jim was pleased when he saw it, knowing that it would mean their targets were compromised. 

Elf had procured blueprints from the Long Island Department of Planning so they knew the layout perfectly. Flint left the kitchen to go through the hall and up the stairs to the next floor and Jim and Silver moved through the kitchen. There was a light on over the oven as they went, showing them the door through to the utility room. The service corridor was at the back, a way for the staff to move between floors and not run into any of the guests or other people who may have been there. Jim drew his weapon as he ascended, attaching the silencer to it from his pocket. His senses were on alert, his focus honing in on every sound. Silver’s breathing behind him sounded thunderous in his ears and Jim could feel the steady thump of his own heart. He was breathing evenly, controlling the excitement inside him as he moved into the head space that he occupied when he did this. He had the gun levelled when he got to the top, ready to shoot anyone that appeared. His night vision had kicked in and he navigated the darkened staircase with ease. Behind him there was no sound as Silver moved like a shadow. At the top Jim saw a long carpeted corridor stretched out before them. It ran the length of the house and they moved down it slowly. On the other side of it, they could make out Flint coming towards them. There were six rooms, three doors to the back of the house and three to the front. 

‘Signals are in all six.’ Elf said. ‘Looks like they might have an extra house guest.’ Silver stopped and nodded towards the front of the building and they moved to check. The first one revealed what they at first thought was an empty room. There was a soft thump off the bed and they found themselves staring at a small fluffy dog. It looked like a black Ewok and it yipped once at them, tail wagging. Jim immediately dropped to his knees and it sniffed his fingers and then came in for cuddles. Jim obliged and grinned up at Flint. 

‘Looks like we’ve been made.’ he whispered and Flint rolled his eyes at him. 

‘Leave the fucking dog alone.’ he hissed and Silver nodded. Jim sighed and ushered the dog back into the room and closed the door again. There was some soft whimpering and a few scratches and then silence. 

‘We need to go in together.’ Silver whispered. ‘Take the first lot by surprise and then come out of this and hit the other two.’ He nodded at the remaining two doors. 

‘Got it.’ Jim replied and moved to the door closest to him at the back. Silver and Flint did the same, each taking another door at the back. They looked at each other, one hand for their weapons and the other easing re door handles open, hesitating to see if there was any sound from inside. Hearing nothing to alert him, Jim slipped in through his door and closed it behind him just as quietly as he had opened it. He noted with no particular surprise that there was the sound of snoring coming from the bed. A combination of drugs and alcohol made for heavy sleep and the Colluscos were well-known for using their own product. 

He moved across the plush carpet, his footsteps muffled by the thick pile, until he was standing next to the bed. The larger of the two shapes was sprawled on his back. The man was relaxed and his eyes stayed closed even when Jim gave him an experimental prod with the barrel of his gun. Jim grinned. He leaned down and turned on the bedside lamp and got a good look at his target. Lew Collusco was ugly in sleep, his jowls sagging and his pig-like noises continued. Jim tilted his head and watched them, waiting for a reaction of some kind. Eventually the woman next to Lew got up on one elbow, pushing her sleep mask off her eyes and her eyes going wide as she spotted Jim standing there. Jim didn’t give her a chance to scream, lifting the gun and firing twice into her face even as she drew in the breath needed. The silencer dampened the sound and she fell back dead, blood and tissue splattered over the pillow and bedside table behind her. A second later he heard the same dull sound from the room next door and knew that Flint had done his job. It was enough for Lew to start awake, snuffling loudly in confusion as he looked around him, inhaling sharply as he saw the woman lying next to him, now a wreck of blood and pink satin. Jim took advantage of the confusion, coldcocking him once on the side of the head with the butt of the gun and then sticking it in Lew’s mouth as he fell back on the pillow.

‘One move.’ His voice was like ice. ‘Just one and it gives me the reason to take the top of your head off, Collusco.’ Lew seemed to weigh up his options and eventually put his hands up slowly. Jim waited until they were out of the way and then reached into his pocket, taking out a couple of cable ties. ‘Get on your front. Now.’ Lew reluctantly turned over, grimacing as he ended up lying in a patch of blood, and Jim stuck the gun in the back of his head. ‘Don’t fucking move.’ He holstered the gun and made quick work of it, tightening the looped ties around Lew’s wrists so he couldn’t move. Then and only then did Jim take out the small hypodermic needle from his inside pocket and put one knee on the bed to lean in and inject it into the side of Lew’s neck. Lew bellowed into the pillow, but Jim held his face down so the sound was lost, then let him up. The belladonna extract worked quickly and Lew soon went limp. 

Jim got up and moved to the door. He had heard nothing untoward and knew that Flint and Silver had obviously gotten in clean and done the job. He’d given them a couple of hypodermics as well and knew that they had probably administered the sedative by now. It wasn’t a very strong decoction, enough to get the men out the house with the minimum of fuss, but also enough that it would wear off after about an hour, when they would be too far away for anything to be done. He found Silver in the corridor and they smiled at each other. 

‘Well, that was fun.’ Silver hissed. ‘I forgot how much I enjoyed this.’

‘Two more.’ Flint whispered as he came out the room at the end. ‘I got Sal in this one.’

‘I got a youngster.’ Silver replied. 

‘Blond?’ Jim asked. Silver shook his head. 

They moved to the final two doors. Jim stood at one while Flint took the other, Silver standing guard in the corridor. They waited and listened, but the house remained silent. Jim placed his hand to the door knob and twisted slowly. He had infinite patience when it came to this. He cracked the door open and looked in. The bed at the far wall was occupied, but this time he counted three shapes. 

He moved across the floor until he was at the foot end of the bed. This time he stood and looked at the figures but did not move. His night sight was superlative, even after having the light on briefly and he lifted his weapon and then very deliberately cocked it. This time both women woke up and Jim fired off four shots in quick succession, dropping them back onto the bed. The man between them woke and started to scramble frantically over one of them to the table on the left of the bed, obviously going for the gun lying there. Jim took great satisfaction in dropping his weapon and bounding onto the bed and getting him around the neck, bracing himself against the wall behind it as he choked the man into unconsciousness. Next door, there was the sound of a brief scuffle and then silence. 

Jim let the man drop back down and sat down on the edge of the bed to check that he hadn’t got blood on his boots. Satisfied, he hopped back down and then hauled on the man’s ankles until he fell off the bed into the floor, groaning and groggy from being choked. Jim kicked him onto his stomach and tied his wrists and then stood up. He was smiling broadly, his adrenaline up and his senses at their sharpest. He retrieved his gun and holstered it, then went to check the two women were definitely dead. He switched the lamps on and now he could see that the man was blond and knew he’d found Gino. That just made the two women in his bed and interesting question mark. Jim lifted the arm of the one next to him and noted the track marks. These were obviously pros and he let the arm fall back on the bed. 

‘This is messier than I wanted it to be.’ Silver grumbled as he came in the room. ‘The one next door put up a bit of a fight. Flint had to knock him on the head.’

‘That’s why we wear gloves, Dad.’ Jim said with a cheery grin. ‘Just don’t get any blood on you. That would be bad.’ 

‘Funny.’ Silver retorted. ‘You’re a bloody comedian sometimes, aren’t you?’ Jim snickered as Flint came back in. He stood at the end of the bed and surveyed the scene then nudged Gino with the toe of his boot. 

‘So head count gives us Lew, Sal and the three Stooges.’ Flint said and his voice had the same flat tone as Jim’s did when he was working. It made Jim think about Ross’ comment that he was far more like Flint that he realised and he grinned to himself.

‘So the five of them.’ Silver said. ‘Plus the gorillas downstairs.’

‘Yeah.’ Jim said. ‘So we good to go?’

‘Yeah.’ Flint replied. ‘Pity about them.’ He nodded at the two women in Gino’s bed.

‘Collateral damage.’ Jim said, and Flint and Silver exchanged looks but didn’t say anything. They were used to his distinct lack of emotion where things like this were concerned. He’d always had a hard time pretending to care about anyone that got caught in the cross fire and so he didn’t even try to act like he did. It disturbed Diego, who had a an odd kind of honour code thing going on, but Flint was very pragmatic and hadn’t been too bothered by it.

‘Let’s get this lot moved.’ Silver said. ‘How long will this stuff of yours take to wear off?’ 

‘Not too long.’ Jim replied. They took some pillow slips from the bedroom next door and put them over the men’s heads, taping them down with the roll of duct tape that Flint was carrying and had also used to gag them. The small dog was very excited to be let out and bounced around their feet. Jim was grinning at it as it tried to lap at the blood that had got onto the carpet. He reached down and picked it up and tucked it under one arm, then looked up to see Silver giving him a disapproving look. 

‘No.’ he said. 

‘Why not?’ Jim scratched the dog’s head. ‘We can’t just leave the little guy here.’

‘For someone who’s forensically one of the most aware people I know, you are ridiculously stupid when it comes to dogs.’ Silver said. ‘You can’t take it.’

‘I’m taking him.’ Jim replied and looked down at the dog. It blinked up at him and then tried to lick his nose when he leaned down to it. ‘Jana and Emma can have him.’

‘He’s probably microchipped.’ Flint said and Jim chuckled. 

‘Like that’ll be a problem.’ he said. ‘Elf can just switch the records out.’ 

‘Your son.’ Flint said to Silver with a raised eyebrow. 

‘Now your son officially too.’ Silver retorted. They got the four men to their feet and herded them along down the back stairs. The beauty of the decoction was that it allowed them to be moved and guided, but kept them completely docile. They got them down to the kitchen and then out the side door and across the short stretch to the garage. Once inside, Jim took out the cell phone he had and sent Ross the text. It simply said ‘Yes’. 

********

Ross was bored stiff. He’d not been allowed to bring his own phone or use the one he'd been given, so he’d had to just sit there and wait, chewing on his nails and watching the occasional car go by. He sighed a little overdramatically and tapped the window with a nail. Right at that moment his phone buzzed and Ross got such a fright that he started and dropped the phone off his lap where it had been balancing and onto the floor. He leaned down, swearing as he dug around for it. When he finally got it back, he swiped at the screen and saw the message.

‘Finally.’ he said, gleeful as a small child finally let outside to play and started the van.

The drive back was much quicker than the drive there. The road was deserted but Ross kept the lights off. He got to the gate and as if on cue, it opened for him. Ross knew that was probably Elf, but it still gave him a little shiver. He pulled in and the gates closed behind the van. He’d seen the layout of the property and knew where to go exactly. 

The garage door was opening as he got there and he stopped the van. Jim stepped out and for a second Ross though he was hallucinating. He peered through the window, tempted to rub his eyes and pinch himself as Jim got to him and lifted up what he was holding, a broad smile on his face. Ross rolled down the window and the small black dog in Jim’s hands squirmed and tried its best to get through the window, licking Ross on the nose with a bright pink tongue. 

‘Isn’t he the fucking cutest?’ Jim asked and then thrust the dog through the window and into Ross’ arms. ‘Hold him. We’ve got to get those wankers in the van.’

‘Jim?’ Ross called after him but Jim was already jogging back to the garage. He turned back to the dog and got another lick. ‘What the fuck?’ The door of the van slid open and he jumped again. This time it was Flint. He grinned when he saw the dog. 

‘Christ.’ he said. ‘I can’t believe he’s fucking taking dogs again.’ He looked at Ross and there was a distinct twinkle. ‘I blame you entirely.’ With that cryptic message he went back to the door. Ross saw that there was now a bunch of men, all with what looked like pillowslips on their heads and the hands bound behind them being herded to the van by Jim and Silver. It was a rather odd sight but Ross had learned to roll with the punches as far as Jim was concerned. 

They got to the door and there was some shuffling and shoving and hefting of the two older and heavier members of the group, but they got in and didn’t fuss about it. Ross snickered, knowing that they were probably flying right at that moment, but they’d soon be crashing down to earth. 

‘That’s some good shit.’ Flint said to Jim. Ross had noticed that they also hadn’t been surprised when Jim had suggested some herbal assistance and that filled in another piece of the puzzle. ‘I think you missed your calling, lad.’

‘Fuck that.’ Jim replied, getting into the front of the van next to him. ‘Give him to me.’ Ross handed the dog over and watched as Silver came out the garage. Flint got in behind Jim and squatted down next to the more or less prone bodies. Silver got in next to him in the back and grinned at Ross as he closed the door. 

‘You were quick.’ His approving tone made Ross smile. ‘Anyone pass you on the way?’

‘Not a soul.’ Ross replied. 

‘Excellent.’ Silver took his ear piece out. ‘Elf is going to switch everything back on as soon as we’re out. She’s got footage looped in so it’s going to look like whatever happened goes down tomorrow.’

‘By which time you’ll be on a train to Florida.’ Jim said, catching his eye in the mirror. They had agreed on the plan that Flint and Silver would be on the train back with a perfect alibi for what Elf was going to set up to be the day that the Colluscos got hit, in the very unlikely case that it ever got back to them. They had explained to Ross that the syndicate would more than likely clean up the house once they figured out something was wrong and went looking for them. The women and security were expendable, and the house would be cleaned thoroughly while a cover story was created for the wives that had been left behind. It might be weeks before they would be officially listed as missing and it was also the case that the cops would not take it very seriously for quite a while, if they ever decided to do anything about it. Having what was classed as a ‘high risk lifestyle’ was a quick way to get bumped to the bottom of the cases that needed solving list. Somebody in the organised crime department might take it on, but then again they might decide it wasn’t worth the trouble. 

They drove up a different road to get out. Silver had impressed the importance of not being spotted if possible and thankfully, there was no-one who passed them until they got to the main road that would take them further north and onto the highway out of the Hamptons. Ross kept his driving sensible and Jim looked across at him, cuddling the dog on his lap. 

‘So you having fun yet?’ he asked and Ross grinned. 

‘It’s been a lot less fuss than I expected.’ he replied. 

‘That’s because we’re professionals.’ Jim replied. He was making faces at the dog and ruffling its fur.

‘Yeah, I can see that.’ Ross said and Jim narrowed his eyes at him. ‘I didn’t know that it was customary to steal the target’s dog.’ There was a snort of laughter from the back of the van. 

‘He’s got you there lad.’ Flint said. There was the sound of someone starting to mutter and then shout in Italian and he casually lifted his gun and bought it down on the person responsible and the shouting cut out abruptly. ‘I think they’re starting to wake up.’ 

‘Good.’ Jim said and when he turned to smile at Ross, Ross could see the crazy little light in his eyes. It was like a match to a fuse, setting off a reaction inside Ross that was purely Pavlovian by this stage. He knew it well, could see his beloved monster starting to uncurl and flex his claws. He turned back to the road, steadying his breathing as his heart started to beat faster in anticipation.


	7. Payback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The woods and the end of the line for the Colluscos.

The Colluscos woke up about halfway through the drive. Jim watched in amusement from the front seat as they wriggled and fought against the ties. Silver had duct taped their mouths so that all that came out was angry muffled sounds, and they couldn’t see where they were because of the pillow cases. 

They were just coming off the Sunrise Highway, taking the North Service Road down and onto Captain Daniel Roe Highway. There was a small road that led off to the right from there and Hot Water Road. He watched Ross indicate, even though they were the only vehicle on the road and turn in carefully, smiling to himself. Ross was a surprisingly careful driver, which he put down to having learned to drive mostly in his father’s classic Jaguar with threats of death if he so much as scratched it. 

They drove up the dirt road on the right and then came to Hot Water which was one of the main service roads into the park. A little way along from that and they found another one off to the left. This was in worse condition but they were not taking the van back to be anything other than disposed of, so Ross took less care here and the van bounced along. On each side of them was nothing but darkness, and Jim felt the keen edge of anticipation settle and turn in his stomach as his mind cleared and nothing but the job occupied his thoughts. Ross drove for two miles down and Jim then leaned across and put a hand on his arm. 

‘That’s far enough.’ he said. ‘Stop here.’

‘Okay.’ Ross braked and cut the engines. The stretch of road they were on was desolate, scrubby trees on either side. He looked at Jim and Jim opened his door and hopped out. Behind him, Silver and Flint had already slid the side door back and were standing at the side as their cargo started to really kick up a fuss. In the front of the van, the little black dog had hopped up on the seat and was watching them through the window. Jim grinned and tapped the pane and it wagged its tail at him. 

‘Off the road?’ he asked and Flint nodded. 

‘Get them out one by one.’ he replied and leaned back into the van. ‘Ross, come help us.’ There was a sudden silence as the Colluscos fell silent. It was never a good sign when people were happy to use names. Ross hopped out his side and came around the van. Between him and Jim they got one of the younger ones out the back. The man was in a t-shirt and boxers, barefoot and shivering in the frigid air. 

‘Which one is he?’ he asked. 

‘Fred.’ Jim said. ‘One of the baby vipers.’ He gave him shove and Fred stumbled over the frozen ground. ‘Get his arm.’ Ross took hold of him and together they started to drag the Collusco with them. Fred, to give him his due, struggled and dug his heels in but Jim reached behind him and twisted his arm hard enough to make Fred let out a muffled yell. Now he was more cooperative and they walked him about fifty yards into the bush across from where the car was. Once they got there, Jim moved and then gave Fred a resounding blow to the kidneys, and he toppled over onto the ground like a tree that had been cut down. Behind them, Silver and Flint had bought the other young one, Mattie. Like Fred he was putting up a fight, but Flint kicked his legs in with a boot the back of the knee and he went down face first into the mud and snow like his brother. 

‘Here.’ He came over to Ross and handed him a gun. ‘Cover them.’ Ross took it, moving to stand over the two men and Jim felt a rush of possessive pride. They left Ross standing guard and went back to the van. Inside there were shouts, the anger and fear in them unmistakeable. It made Jim feel happy to hear it. He’d spent so much time agonising over what Andres must have felt in those last couple of hours, how much he suffered. Now he could inflict the same pain and fear on the men responsible and it made his heart light. 

‘Get the old ones out.’ he said. ‘Leave Gino.’

‘Why?’ Silver was watching him closely and Jim gave him a cold smile. 

‘Because I said Ross could have him.’ he replied and something passed over Silver’s face that was almost unreadable. Jim knew what it was. His father had never quite lost the little flicker of unease when he was confronted with what Jim was behind his human face. 

‘Fair enough.’ he said. He knew better than to ask what Jim was going to do with him. 

They got the other two out. It was easier because they were still a little under the influence of Jim’s drug. Silver shoved Lew ahead of him, Silver following just after under Flint’s watchful gaze. In the van they could hear Gino kicking up a hell of a fuss. Jim climbed back in and stood over the squirming figure. He huffed in disgust and then moved to straddle him, locking his arm around Gino’s neck in the same way he had before and choking him out. When Gino went limp, Jim picked up the duffle bag that had been put in the van for them and had contained the disposable cell phones and some of the other things they’d needed. He leaned over the front seat to pet the dog, which had curled up and gone to sleep, and then hopped out the van and closed the door. 

By the time he got back, he saw that the Colluscos were on their knees, the two younger ones face the two older ones. He dumped the duffle on the ground and came over to where Ross was standing like an extra from a police procedural, still holding the gun. Jim chuckled and walked over to him, taking the gun from him and giving him a quick kiss.

‘You’re so fucking adorable.’ he said and Ross grinned. 

‘This is fun.’ he said. ‘It’s kind of like a family outing.’ That made Flint look up at Jim from where he was digging in the duffle and raised his eyebrows at them both. 

‘God.’ He looked at Silver. ‘We’re like the goddamn Brady Bunch.’ Silver laughed where he was standing behind Sal. He ripped off the duct tape, making Sal protest as best he could under his gag and then moved to stand in front of him, shining his flashlight right in his eyes. He ripped the duct tape from Sal’s mouth and a slew on profane Italian came out. 

‘Evening, Sal.’ he said. ‘Long time no see.’

‘Fuck.’ Sal spat, defiant to the last. ‘Silver.’ Silver grinned.

‘You dumb fuck.’ he said. ‘All of you in the same house?’

‘What the fuck are you doing in New York anyhow?’ Sal was squinting into the light. 

‘Funny story.’ Silver said. ‘I was visiting him.’ He swung the flashlight in Jim’s direction and even in the contrasted light Jim could see Sal’s look of horror.

‘Christ.’ He was starting to struggle again. ‘Fuck.’

‘Yeah.’ Jim came over to stand next to Silver. ‘You stupid wankers don’t even know who you invited into your house.’

‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ Sal’s voice was pitchy and Jim could almost smell the panic now starting to come off him. Flint came up behind him and shoved him so he almost fell over again. 

‘You arrogant prick.’ His voice was like ice. ‘Him.’ The beam from his flashlight went to where Ross was standing and Jim saw the recognition slowly cross Sal’s face. 

‘You.’ Sal’s voice was outraged. ‘You’re the queer that came with Gino’s skirt.’ He looked at Jim. ‘He’s one of yours?’

‘Gino’s got a lot to answer for.’ Jim said. ‘Next time it might not be such a good idea to invite my husband to dinner.’ He looked across at the husband in question. ‘Say hello, Ross.’

‘Hello Ross.’ Ross said, grinning back at him. Sal seemed to have lost the ability to speak, just staring at him stupidly.

‘Yeah.’ Jim grinned. ‘Sucks to know you let him walk right in, huh?’

‘Not as much as when we get our hands on you.’ Sal finally spat. ‘You and your bitch.’ Jim laughed and looked at Flint, seeing the sharp edged grin on his face.

‘Nice.’ Ross said, sarcasm colouring his voice. ‘So now what?’ 

‘This.’ Flint was ripping the duct tape from Lew’s head. He’d been making strangled noises the whole way through the exchange and when he was out of the pillowcase and the duct tape removed from his mouth, he roared in fury and the profanity this time was a hell of a lot worse and in English. In response to this, Flint kicked him in the back and he fell face forward in the slush. 

‘You bastards!’ It was full of impotent fury. ‘You’ll pay for this. There are people who will be looking for us!’

‘Yeah, but here’s the thing.’ Flint was crouching down by his head. ‘They are not going to find you. Not for a very long time and not before the vermin out here have eaten your faces off.’ He grabbed Lew by the hair and raised his head. ‘We owe you and now we’re collecting.’ He let him drop back down and got up. ‘Do it.’ This was to Jim and he knew what Flint wanted. He moved to where Ross was standing and nodded at Freddie. 

‘Get him out.’ he instructed. Ross reached under his jacket for the knife at his back and used it to cut the tape that held the pillowcase. Jim reached for the Civilian at his ankle and did the same. He ripped the pillowcase off Mattie’s head, noting the family resemblance. He’d never met the Colluscos in person, only heard of them from Silver and Flint who had had a few run-ins with them. Judging from the looks he was getting though, they certainly knew who he was. 

Jim watched them all, turning over the idea in his head that these were the people who’d condemned Andres to his death. He also knew that if he’d been on that boat he would have suffered the same fate – raped, beaten and cut up for shark food to be dumped over the side. He felt the anger settle heavy in his stomach and turn to the icy calm he always felt on the job. Then he grabbed the hair of the man in front of him and drew his head right back, the blade of the Civilian at his throat. The reaction was instantaneous. Mattie froze, a panicked little noise escaping him and Jim saw the naked fear cross Lew and Sal’s face in the beam of the flashlights. This was what it would come down to. Everyone had that one thing, that thing that made them vulnerable. Andres had been his and now he knew what theirs was. 

‘Dad?’ Mattie’s voice was shaking with obvious fear. ‘What the fuck is this?’ He swallowed hard and Jim grinned as he realised that the Collusco boys were probably raised to be as far from the dirty work as possible. Their orders to kill were carried out by a useful minion and never by their own hands. It was one of the reasons Silver and Flint routinely managed to outsmart them. He could feel Mattie shaking under his hands and knew that he was probably close to shitting himself in fear. 

‘It’s okay, son.’ Lew said, still spitting venom but also trying to sound soothing. ‘Just keep calm. It’s gonna be okay.’ 

‘See that’s where you’re wrong.’ Flint said. ‘It’s not going to be okay. And you didn’t teach them very well.’ He looked up and Jim met his eyes. ‘Not like my son. We raised him to get his hands dirty. We raised him to do what’s needed.’ He fixed the two younger Colluscos with a disgusted look. ‘Yours wouldn’t know how to cut a man’s throat if their lives depended on it. Which is funny considering that’s what about to happen.’ He nodded at Jim and Jim wasted no time. He tightened his grip in Mattie’s hair and slashed the Civilian across his throat from right to left, blood spurting bright red in the beam from the flashlights. The wickedly sharp blade cut right down through the tissue and when Jim let Mattie fall back down onto the ground, his head flopped around like rag doll. Across from them, Sal had gone completely quiet while Lew was roaring again. He sounded pained, his voice hoarse with fury and distress. Next to them, Freddie had lunged forward, but Ross had stepped in without fuss and had him around the throat in the hold that Jim had taught him, restraining him while he started crying like a child as he tried to reach his now very dead brother. 

‘Christ!’ Lew's shout was desperate. Flint stuck the barrel of his weapon to the back of his head and he fell silent. 

‘I should have fucking killed all of you.’ Sal spat. ‘Like I killed the Colombian fag your kid was fucking.’ His voice was ugly with fear. 

‘You didn’t kill him.’ Silver said. ‘You got some runners to do that for you.’ He looked at Jim. Jim looked back at him, gaze steady. He nodded at Sal and Silver grabbed Sal under his fat chin and jerked his head back so he was looking at him. 

‘You gave the order to kill Andres.’ Jim said. ‘He was one of ours.’ The anger bubbled up for just a second. 'He was mine.'

‘So what if I did? You’re all dead.’ Sal was now wheezing, clearly suffering from the stress of the situation. Next to him Lew was howling like an animal in pain. ‘I’ll hunt down every last one of you fuckers and wipe you off the face of the earth. Make what we did to your bitch look like fun time.’ 

‘Tell him what you did.’ Silver said to Jim. ‘Tell him what you did to the ones that killed Andres.’ He jerked Sal again. ‘Look at him. Look at my son.’ Sal did, his dark eyes fearful. Jim moved forward until he was staring into the eyes of the man that in all likelihood had given the order that had stolen his last link to humanity. 

‘I killed them.’ he said. ‘All of them. I cut their throats one by one.’ He turned and looked at Ross and saw the excitement burning in his dark eyes. He looked back at Sal. ‘You took the man I loved away from me and now we are going to take your whole family. We’re going to wipe you off the face of the planet. And when we’re done, we’re going to leave you here to rot.’

‘Fuck you!’ Sal spat. Jim smiled and then stepped back. He turned to Ross. 

‘Now’s your chance, baby.’ he said. ‘You still want in?’ He got a brilliant smile and Ross reached for the knife once again and this time he was the one to pull Freddie’s head back and cut his throat. It was clean, angled away like Jim had shown him to avoid getting sprayed by blood. 

‘Two down.’ he said. ‘Two to go.’ Jim chuckled at him and watched his husband preen under the approving look Jim was giving him.

Lew was yelling now, back in Italian as his grief made him almost incoherent. He was moving forward, shuffling on his bare knees, and that was when Flint drew his weapon and fired two shots into the back of his head. They blew the front part of Lew’s face out and he pitched forward onto the bloody ruin left by the rounds as they exited. 

That was enough for Sal to sag and let out a sound that was utterly defeated. It didn’t last long though because Silver took a step back and shot him twice in the back of the head just like Flint had done to Lew. Jim watched him collapse in a graceless heap and then smiled. He felt light, like years of pain had been finally lifted. 

‘Now that is what I wanted to see.’ Silver said. He was watching Jim, and Jim could read him even in the dark. 

‘Thank you.’ he said. ‘For doing this with me.’

‘Where else would we be, lad?’ Silver replied. ‘Family sticks together. It’s the first thing I taught you.’

Jim stared at him, something ticking over on his head. Then he walked to Silver, skirting the growing pool of red that was steaming in the cold air and put his arms around him. He could feel Silver’s surprise in the way that he froze, before he returned the embrace. His grip was tight and Jim let himself lean into him, this tall strong man who’d turned up at the children’s home and taken his hand after he’d killed his parents, just like Jim had hoped he would. 

‘I love you.’ he murmured into Silver’s shoulder. ‘I don’t know where I would have been without you.’ He felt Silver’s hand come up and stroke his hair, like he’d done when Jim was little. It soothed him like his parent’s caresses never had. This was his truth he’d never told Silver, but the one that was incontrovertible. He’d always known that he wasn’t meant to be with them, which was why he’d killed them in the first place and hoped that he’d end up where he wanted to be.

‘I know, lad and I love you too.’ Silver said. ‘And there isn’t a day I’ve regretted bringing you home with me.’ He pulled back, cupping Jim’s face in his hands. ‘You make me very proud.’ He smiled at him and Jim smiled back. 

*********

Ross watched the exchange with an odd feeling in his chest. It was so unusual to see Jim like this and he knew that this was something momentous for the little family of three that he was now part of. 

The clean-up was quick and thorough, Jim clearly having learned the skills he’d taught Ross from the two men that had raised him. The weapons and gear were stowed in the duffle and it was put away in the van. Their bloody gloves were replaced with new ones, the others stuck in a bag along with the Colluscos’ clothing, which he and Jim had cut off them, and the shell casings. Everything was accounted for and then Flint handed them each a pair of garden shears, the kind used to cut through thick branches, and a ball hammer. 

‘Now the fun part.’ Jim said to him and Ross watched as he demonstrated how to cut off the first joint of each finger of Mattie’s hands. The fingertips went into another bag and Ross knew they were probably destined for one of the dark corners of Jim’s lair. The last thing he did was show Ross how he knocked the teeth out of Mattie’s jaws and Ross watched avidly, his excitement growing. Jim collected them off the t-shirt he was using under the dead man’s head, and shoved them in the bag with the fingertips. 

‘So why?’ Ross asked as he got to work on Freddie, grimacing with effort as he battled with the shears. 

‘Makes it harder to ID them.’ Jim replied. He laughed and moved in to cover Ross’ hands with his, guiding them so the shears snapped shut with a satisfying crunch. ‘No fingerprints and no dental.’

‘I see.’ Ross picked the fingertip up and studied it then put it in the bag Jim was now holding out to him. ‘That makes sense.’ He sat back on his heels. ‘All done?’

‘All done.’ Jim twisted the neck of the bag and tied it off. ‘This comes with us and we’ll get rid of it.’

‘Cool.’ Ross stood up and stretched, then yawned expansively. ‘We taking Gino with us?’

‘We are.’ Jim replied. ‘We’ll drop him off at the place and put him in one of the rooms. He can stew there for a day or two.’ Ross grinned. They had done that once or twice, keeping their prey for a couple of days before they hunted them, especially if they were particularly noxious. It made them jumpy and nervous and so much fun to chase. 

‘That sounds like fun.’ he said and Jim smiled at him. 

‘I also have a bit of a score to settle and he’ll do nicely on that front.’ he said and that made Ross shiver. He knew that this was going to be a special kill, one they would remember for a while. He moved and heard Jim’s small noise of surprise as he caught him by the front of the jacket and kissed him soundly. 

‘All right, break it up you two.’ Flint said. He and Silver were done with their two bodies and Jim and Ross moved to join them. Jim chucked his bag in Flint’s open one and Flint handed it to them. 

‘So quick stop at yours?’ Silver asked and Jim nodded. 

‘Then we need food.’ Flint said. ‘Christ I am fucking starving.’

‘Yes, please.’ Ross said and then looked at the four men lying on the ground. ‘So we just leave them here?’

‘Yeah.’ Jim said. ‘Let the animals deal with them.’ He took Ross’ hand. ‘Come on baby, time to go.’

Flint drove them to Willet’s Point, taking a completely different route to the one they had taken in. At the yard, Jim and Ross unloaded Gino from the van. He was still out and was a dead weight between them as they carried him down into the basement. There was a holding room which they had kitted out with a mattress and a camping toilet. They dumped Gino on the makeshift bed, cut his restraints and left him with a couple of bottles of water and a packet of health bars, locking the door and leaving him in the dark. 

Back upstairs in the garage, they climbed back in the van and Flint drove them through to Jackson Heights and the place they had dropped Cam off. A short fat man took the van off his hands, babbling in Tagalog at Flint. Flint replied fluently and there was an animated discussion with lots of laughter. 

‘Joe says there’s great place down the road.’ Flint said when he’d concluded their business. ‘Got the best adobo in New York apparently.’ 

‘Good stuff.’ Silver said. ‘Shall we?’

They ended up in a back room that could only be called a restaurant in the loosest of terms, eating pork adobo that tasted like heaven and surrounded by people that looked like illegal workers. They also had three orders of chicken bistek, rice, chichurons and enough cold Red Horse to set all of them on a beer buzz on the table. Ross was very amused to see that the other three all had their heads down, devoting themselves to the very serious business of refuelling. He had thought it was just a thing Jim did, but now he could see where it came from. He reached under the table, putting his hand on Jim’s thigh, and got a smile. 

The food disappeared and Flint ordered them a round of leche flan and then sat back. He watched Ross light up a cigarette. 

‘You got another one of those, lad?’ he asked and Ross chucked him the pack and then lit the one he’d taken for him, clicking his zippo closed. 

‘So much for smoking regulations.’ Silver muttered, waving his hand rather theatrically. 

‘Fuck smoking regulations.’ Flint said, blowing out a cloud of smoke with every sign of enjoyment.

‘Have you seen this place?’ Jim leaned back against the wall. ‘They let him in.’ He nodded at the small dog that was now occupying Silver’s lap and which had gorged on pork adobo so that its little belly was stretched tight like a drum. ‘I think smoking regulations are not really a thing.’

‘True.’ Silver rubbed two silky ears between his fingers. ‘I must say this little guy is growing on me.’ He lifted the dog and it licked his nose. ‘You want to come home with me?’

‘What happened to ‘Don’t take the dog.’? You change your mind old man?’ Jim was grinning. 

‘He ever tell you how he acquired the lads?’ Silver said to Ross and Ross shook his head, draining his beer and reaching for another one from the bucket on the table.

‘I just thought he had them.’ he said and Silver and Flint chuckled. 

‘No.’ Flint said. ‘He got them from a job.’ He looked at Jim fondly and shook his head at him. ‘He used to do it all the damn time.’

‘Tell him.’ Silver said and Jim laughed. 

‘It was home job about seven Christmases ago.’ he said. ‘I was waiting for the guy and did him in the bathroom of his apartment. When I went downstairs, there was a box with air-holes under the tree and it was making whining noises.’ 

‘Seriously?’ Ross’ smile was bright. ‘That is fucking cute.’

‘So were they.’ Jim was also smiling, dimples out. ‘I really couldn’t leave them there so I kind of got my own Christmas present that year.’ 

‘Loki.’ Silver said in the manner of an announcement and they all looked at him. ‘He looks like a Loki to me.’ He looked at Jim. ‘The train lets dogs on, right?’

‘It does.’ Jim laughed and reached over to scratch the newly named Loki under the chin. ‘Just don’t let Bob eat him.’ 

‘Not a chance.’ Silver said and kissed the dog on the head.


	8. The End of an Era

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Gino to die...
> 
> Fill for kink bingo - gentle sex. For Lilly. Some soft Folie boys. How we love out little psychopaths.

Two days later, Ross was standing in front of a series of magnificent paintings in the new Pre-Rapahelite exhibition wearing his bemused face. Jim stood next to him, smiling behind his hand as he watched his husband try to appreciate the artwork he’d worked so long and so hard on. 

Mathilde had instilled a certain amount of culture in Ross but it was for the theatre and music rather than art, and as Ross stepped back and frowned Jim knew that he was not feeling the same passion he did when confronted with brushwork so fine it seemed as if you could touch the people in the paintings and their flesh would yield under your fingertips.

It was only a small private opening for the governors of the museum and the department and some journalists that had been invited to chat with them about the restoration process. It was one of Emma’s brainwaves to drum up publicity and the journalists had been in and out of their workshop as well to write a piece that would show the behind the scenes work that went into an exhibition like this. The dress code was semi-formal and they were both in suits and open collar shirts as befitted the image the museum wanted to present. Of course Jim and Devan had been trotted out for the journalists to take pictures of, being by far the most photogenic of the staff. Devan, much to Jim’s horror, had completely befriended Ross and they had a habit of standing in corners and giggling at something they shouldn’t be. 

‘Come on.’ Jim decided to put Ross out of his misery. ‘I think we’ve been here long enough.’ 

‘No, we can stay a bit longer.’ Ross protested but his look of obvious relief told Jim that he desperately wanted to leave. Jim gave him a knowing look. 

He was all too aware of why Ross wanted to leave.

‘Let me just say goodbye to a few people.’ He pulled Ross in, arm around his waist and leaning in to murmur in his ear. ‘Then we can go play.’ 

Ross’ hazel eyes glittered with anticipation and Jim let him go and went over to have a few minutes polite conversation with the benefactors and journalists and make his apologies to Emma. Once he was done, he came back over and took Ross’ hand and led him out into the winter afternoon.

They stood on the steps of the Met and adjusted scarves, gloves and coats. Jim hailed a cab and they went back to the apartment. Jana was dog sitting and the apartment was empty. Jim had cited a need for date night and she had been all too happy to take on her small furry charges and they had been delighted to go with her. 

They had barely gotten inside when Jim found himself being pinned against the wall and furiously snogged. 

‘And that?’ he asked when Ross finally let him breathe. 

‘Like you need to ask.’ Ross had that look, the one that took Jim’s breath away. He smiled and wound a dark curl around his forefinger. 

‘Patience, my love.’ he replied. ‘You need to wait until later.’ 

Ross smirked at him but he let him go and they went upstairs to get changed into something a little more appropriate. The rest of the afternoon was spent in lazy fashion, watching movies on cable and ordering in take-out from Ross’ favourite Chinese place which was eaten on the sofa. The tension was building in slow anticipation and Ross was starting to get fidgety. He sat and smoked cigarette after cigarette and Jim observed him from the other side of the sofa. 

He stretched, enjoying the pull inside him, the growing need he had to kill. Doing a job never relieved him of that. It simply didn’t fulfil what he needed to do, but tonight he would have a chance to play. 

His phone rang and Jim leaned over to pick it up. He saw the number and smiled as he answered.

‘Hey, old man.’ His voice caught Ross’ attention. 

‘Jim.’ Silver sounded exasperated. ‘We have to send him back. It’s been two days and he scares the crap out of Bob. Clearly this dog is unhinged.’

‘You wanted him.’ Jim laughed. ‘What is he doing?’

‘Flint took him for a walk on the beach when we got back to let him stretch his paws. Bob came over for a look and Loki went bananas. I’ve never seen Bob move so fast.’ Silver chuckled. ‘Trust you to pick the mental case.’ He went quiet for a bit. ‘How is the garden?’

‘Fine.’ Jim’s cheerful tone didn’t change at all. ‘I think we’ll leave it until spring. It’s still too frosty to do anything with.’ 

‘Yeah.’ Silver sounded like he was on the move and then Jim laughed as he heard yapping in the background. 

‘He sounds like he’s making himself at home.’ he said.

‘Little shit.’ Silver’s voice was fond. ‘You boys doing something fun tonight?’

‘Dirty weekend.’ Jim winked at Ross and got a grin. ‘Don’t ask.’

‘I won’t.’ Silver assured him. ‘I’ll call you next week then when you are done with your shenanigans. Tell our son-in-law we said hello.’

‘I will. Talk to you later.’ Jim disconnected the call. He and Silver didn’t do the usual niceties especially when it was a business call. 

‘What was that?’ Ross was curious. 

‘That was my father checking if anyone’s found them yet.’ Jim set his phone back down and carried on watching Arnold yelling and running around the jungle. 

By the time they got to ten o’clock, they were both ready. 

There was no need to do anything special for their preparations. Everything they needed was already at the location and their intended playmate was well and truly freaked out by two days in captivity. He would lead them a merry dance through the tunnels and make their night very enjoyable. 

They left the apartment and Jim drove them through the city. Ross leaned back in the passenger seat, reminiscing about another late night drive a long time ago, a glimpse of a fine profile under a baseball cap and a voice that sent shivers down his spine. He toyed with his wedding ring and watched Jim as he drove, one wrist resting on the steering wheel. The radio was playing the Black Album at low volume. 

Jim knew the way, could drive it blindfolded. He varied his route as he did every time they came out and Ross looked out the window, his face illuminated by the street lights as they passed. It didn’t take long once they had come over the bridge for them to get to Willet’s Point and pull into the drive of the yard. Ross sat up, unclipping his seat belt and then hopping out the car to go and unlock the gate and pull it back for him. Jim drove in, watching Ross haul the gate back across and lock it and then jog back over to the car, pocketing the keys. Jim smiled at the memory of when he’d gifted Ross his own set as a wedding present, a sign of the deepest trust he could give. Ross had recognised the significance of the keys, knew it meant that he and Jim were partners now in all senses. His wide eyes and the look of astonishment and then overwhelming love had taken Jim’s breath away. They now lived on a little key chain shaped like the Empire State Building and Ross was never without them. 

Ross opened the door of the building and Jim pulled the truck inside, killed the engine and got out as Ross was locking that door as well. They did not speak, the only sound their footsteps on the concrete as they went to the door that led down into their playground. Jim flipped the lights and the red bulbs came on as they descended down the stairs.

They moved in silence to the corridor of rooms and Jim went off to go and see to his garden, stopping in the room with his distillery to get some things he needed. He opened the door to his garden with its bright halogen lamps and hydroponic system and started checking things in his usual methodical fashion. He heard music coming from the other room and knew Ross was busy changing. 

It had also alerted Gino to their presence and he was now yelling and hammering on the door of the room he was locked in. Jim grinned as he inspected his plants. He’d insulated the downstairs rooms very well and there was no way anyone above ground would hear a thing. 

He took his pruning shears from his back pocket and started going through the plants one by one, inspecting them for disease and cutting off any dead leaves. He had a variety of plants – hemlock and vervain, belladonna, oleander and monkshood. He also had salvia and jimsonweed which he combined with his poisons to produce violent hallucinations in their playmates. 

‘Jim?’ Ross was in the doorway. ‘He’s making a lot of noise.’ 

‘Let him.’ Jim didn’t look up from what he was doing. ‘He’ll shout himself out in a bit.’ 

Ross came to stand behind him, watching in interest. 

‘What are you going to use?’ He always showed a keen interest in Jim’s little decoctions.

‘I’m not sure yet.’ Jim looked over at the door in irritation. Gino was hitting pitches that would have made dog’s howl. ‘Go sort him out. He’s giving me a headache.’

Ross lit up. 

‘How far can I go?’ he asked and Jim shrugged. 

‘He’s your toy.’ he reasoned. ‘Do what you want.’

Ross nearly galloped off and Jim chuckled as the the sounds of shouts were soon extinguished. He finished up and left the room, strolling down the corridor to the room they were holding Gino in. What he found made him feel immense pride in just how far Ross had progressed. 

Gino was curled in a ball on the floor, gagging frantically. Jim knew without asking that he’d obviously tried to make a run for the door and Ross had gotten him in the throat. He was standing there over Gino, a smirk on his face and then he looked at Jim. Jim knew what he wanted and nodded in approval and got a beautiful smile. 

‘Keep an eye on him.’ he said and Ross nodded. Jim left and went to the other room, rifling through his locker of supplies. He selected a bottle, filled a syringe from it and went back. 

‘Get him up.’ he instructed and Ross went to the still immobilised Gino. He wrestled him into a half upright position while Jim approached. ‘I need his mouth open.’

Ross got Gino around the neck with one arm and held him fast, pinching Gino’s nose closed with the other so he had no choice but to breathe through his mouth. That gave Jim the chance to grab him by the hair and hold him still long enough to inject the contents of the syringe down his throat, before Ross clamped his hand over his mouth, forcing him to swallow. 

Gino coughed when Ross took his hand away, peering up blearily at Jim. 

‘Who the fuck are you?’ he croaked, his voice hoarse from shouting. His eyes were red, his face stubbled and blotchy and Jim tilted his head to contemplate him. ‘Why the fuck am I here?’

‘You’ve spent the past six months smacking my husband’s best friend around. He has not taken kindly to that at all.’ Jim explained. ‘Add to that the fact that your fucking family has a lot to answer for where I am concerned and you’ve found yourself in a very tricky situation, Collusco. As for Ross, he has a score to settle for the way you treated Cilla.’ 

‘Ross?’ Gino seemed confused. ‘The fag she brought to the house?’

‘The one and the same.’ Jim smiled at him. He nodded behind Gino and Ross loosened his hold enough for Gino to look up at him. He clearly hadn’t recognised him when Ross had opened the door, but that was understandable. Now Gino had a chance to take everything in. Jim saw how he realised who was holding him still. He started struggling again and Ross tightened his grip enough that he started to wheeze for breath, scrabbling at Ross’ arm until he slowly blacked out. 

‘Wanker.’ Ross was cheerfully unrepentant. ‘I’m tempted to just kill him now.’

‘That would ruin the fun.’ Jim laughed. ‘Come on, help me get him downstairs.’

They carried Gino between them, through the door into the tunnels and down and down into the red tinged light. They had been adding things as they had gone along and they went right to the branch of tunnels that Ross used to hunt in. At the entrance Jim had drilled and set a pair of shackles into the wall. They got Gino fastened into them and then divested him of his shoes and socks and watch. 

‘It should kick in soon.’ Jim said, kneeling to check Gino’s breathing. ‘Go get ready.’ 

Ross got up and loped off, his laugh echoing off the walls. Jim followed him after double checking that Gino was secure. 

Back in the rooms at the top of the tunnels, Jim took out his Civilian and stripped off his clothes. He had an old pair of jeans and a faded t-shirt he no longer wore which he put on. Ross was already similarly dressed with his hair tied back. Like Jim he was barefoot and he now wore a pair of black latex gloves. He’d developed tougher soles from all his running down in the dark and now went barefoot when he hunted, just like Jim did. He had his combat knife, his favourite weapon, and he was standing watching Jim and tapping the blade against his front teeth. 

‘I want his to go slow.’ He flipped the knife and caught it. ‘Draw it out a bit.’

‘Like you don’t usually?’ Jim pulled the t-shirt over his head. 

‘No, that’s not what I meant.’ Ross leaned against the wall. ‘I just want this one to hurt. Like he hurt her.’

‘Not a problem.’ Jim took a pair of gloves from the box in the locker and snapped them on, then tucked the Civilian in his back pocket.

They walked back down, locking the door behind them. The eerie red lighting did nothing to dispel the hellish atmosphere and Jim could see that Ross was starting to shift. His steps took on a stealthy quality completely belied by his usual clumsiness (although Jim often questioned just how much of Ross’ own daytime persona was an act), and his dark eyes were intent. 

Gino was conscious when they got to him. He backed up against the wall, eyes wide with fright and started babbling. It was quite difficult to understand him and Jim huffed with laughter. 

‘Guess it’s a bit strong.’ He grinned. ‘Oh well, a work in progress. I should probably be taking notes.’

‘You’re like a mad scientist.’ Ross laughed, affection colouring his voice. 

‘Does that make you my Igor then?’ Jim laughed back, moving to kiss him. Down on the ground, Gino made a strangled noise. 

They ignored him, kissing happily in the gloom. When Ross finally let him go, Jim could see that he was slipping away into his own private darkness. He raised a hand and ran a fingertip over that lush mouth he loved so much and Ross caught it between his teeth and gave him a playful growl. Jim laughed softly and tugged the finger away. 

‘Animal.’ His voice was teasing. ‘You want to go hunting, baby?’

Ross didn’t reply, just turned those glittering eyes back to their captive audience, now staring up at them in horror. He crouched down and used his knife to tilt Gino’s chin up. Gino shuddered and whined, tears squeezing themselves from his eyes as he tried not to move. 

‘Pathetic.’ Jim tilted his head. ‘All big man when you’re smacking your girlfriend around but look at you now.’ 

‘I want to cut him into pieces.’ Ross murmured, tracing down the side of Gino’s jaw with the blade. Gino whimpered and flinched away. 

‘Time to let him loose then.’ Jim moved and took the key to the shackles from his pocket. He undid them and let Gino loose and Ross stood up and moved back. 

Gino stumbled to his feet, tripping over himself and sprawling in the dirt. Jim laughed and looked at Ross. 

‘Definitely a work in progress.’ He reiterated and Ross chuckled. He gave Gino a kick with his bare foot. 

‘Come on.’ he urged. ‘It’s no fun if you don’t try and get away.’

They walked behind Gino as he crawled along in front of them, hands and knees quickly dirtied by the tunnel floor. He was moaning like a beaten animal and it spurred them both on. 

Ross turned his knife over in his hands. He was almost vibrating with anticipation and Jim watched him avidly. He adored Ross like this, unhinged and unbridled in his lust for blood. 

‘Go on.’ He saw Ross turn his head and look at him, eyes bright. ‘He’s yours to play with.’ 

Ross wasted no time, striding forward. Gino was looking back at them over his shoulder and Ross’ sudden advance was enough to get him on his feet and running into the dark. Ross laughed and the jogged off after him, leaving Jim trailing in his wake. 

This branch of the tunnels led down to another level that came out into an old maintenance station. Jim had painstakingly cleared it so now it was simply a brick lined corridor, blood soaked into the dirt beneath his feet. It was cool down here, all sound lost. He started to hum as he walked, tracking Ross and Gino by sound. 

Gino’s pathetic sobs were coming quicker and Jim knew that he was probably running for his life. There was only one pathway he could take though and that was straight onto the station with its smooth concrete floor and the lighting he’d installed. 

He went down the passageway and came to the steps that led down. Up ahead he could just see Ross’ silhouette against the red light. He followed them down and came into the open space of the maintenance station. There was a track running alongside but the tunnels were bricked up on each end so it was just a dark space. 

Jim saw Gino on the far end of the platform. He was pressed against the wall, and seemed to be debating jumping off into the darkness. Ross was standing a few feet from him, his entire body now tense as he waited to pounce. He feinted forward and Gino threw up a hand. 

‘This is insane!’ he screeched. ‘Stop it!’

That made Ross fall back a bit. He turned and looked at Jim and Jim smiled and stuck both hands in his pocket. Ross looked back at Gino and lifted the knife. 

‘Give me three good reasons not to.’ he ordered and the panic in Gino’s face made Jim laugh out loud. 

‘I don’t know what your argument with my family is.’ The words came out in a barely comprehensible babble. ‘But I can honestly tell you that I’m just the money man. That’s all I do. I don’t know about any score.’ He was holding both hands up in a pacifying gesture. ‘The thing is though, they are kind of a big thing in this town and once they know I’m missing they’re gonna tear this city apart looking for me.’

‘See that’s where you’re wrong.’ Jim couldn’t keep the cheeriness out of his voice. He was enjoying this immensely. ‘They are very unlikely to look for you on account of the fact that they really aren’t in any position to do so.’

Gino frowned. Then it seemed to click and there was a look of anger on his face. 

‘Fuck.’ It came out slightly strangled. ‘What have you done with them?’

‘I take it you mean your family.’ Jim held his gaze. ‘They’re dead. We killed them.’ He watched the momentary despair in Gino’s eyes, feeling a glow of wellbeing inside him. ‘So there’s nobody coming to rescue you and there’s nobody who will wreak bloody revenge on us for caving you up into teeny little pieces.’ He smiled. ‘And as for my argument with your family, they’ve killed a lot of people I know and a few that I counted as friends.’

Now Gino started to look a lot more worried. He swallowed noisily and looked at Ross, almost accusing.

‘You said he’s a painter.’ he hissed and Ross shrugged. 

‘He is.’ he replied. ‘But he’s also something else.’ He looked back at Jim. ‘He’s my Dark Angel.’ 

‘Hang on.’ Gino looked like he was about to have an aneurysm from thinking too hard. ‘There’s a guy that has that name that works for the Silvers. You’re in the trade?’ He sounded aghast. ‘You’re a fucking sicario?’

Jim nodded. He moved forward.

‘I’m also James Silver.’ he said and now Gino’s eyes went wide. 

‘Fuck.’ It was flat. ‘How the fuck did we not know that?’

‘Because I don’t go by that name anymore.’ Jim replied evenly. ‘And because I make it my business to make sure nobody knows who I am.’ He breathed in deeply. ‘Now I’m getting bored. Ross?’

‘Done.’ Ross replied and took the three steps at speed and buried the combat knife in Gino’s side before he even knew what was happening. 

Gino howled in pain and tried to fight him off, but Ross was strong and well-rested and he twisted the blade deeper, pinning Gino against the wall with an arm across his throat. Jim moved in closer to watch, noting how Ross had learned to strike more accurately. He had the knife between ninth and tenth ribs, not a fatal blow but an excruciating one. Gino was more or less hanging on the sizeable blade and his face was creased in pain, but Jim had to grudgingly admit that he was trying his best not to lose it. His face was going a darker shade of red as he struggled to breathe and Jim came in closer and watched as he started to pass out. 

Ross let him go just as he got to the point of no return and then walked away, circling like a shark. Gino fell to his knees, coughing. Jim stood over him and looked at Ross.  
Ross waited. He’d grown to be far more patient with a kill, delaying his gratification. 

Jim hauled Gino to his feet and then shoved him forward so he stumbled between them. He still hadn’t taken his knife out and instead grinned at Ross. 

‘Put the knife away.’ he instructed and Ross frowned. 

‘Why?’ All his focus was on Gino.

‘Because I said so.’ Jim injected just enough authority into his voice. Upstairs they were equals but down here, he called the shots. ‘I have something to teach you.’

Ross raised an eyebrow at him and then sheathed the knife. 

‘All right.’ His mouth quirked in amusement. ‘Teach away.’ 

Gino looked frantically from one to the other, hand pressed to his side. The blood on his shirt stained it black in the red light. Jim knew he was feeling weaker and reached for the Civilian in his back pocket. He flicked the wickedly sharp blade open and went in low and fast. 

He’d been meaning to teach Ross how to disable for a while, but this was the perfect opportunity. The knife ripped through the muscle at the back of Gino’s leg, bared in his cotton boxers he’d been sleeping in. He roared in pain and dropped to the opposite knee. Blood was spurting from the wound, the Civilian having opened up a massive gouge at the back of his thigh. 

Ross came around to admire how the blood was collecting on the smooth floor, his eyes fixed on the wound. Jim moved and kicked the screaming Gino between the shoulder blades and he toppled forward onto his stomach and then handed the knife to Ross. 

‘Like I did.’ he instructed and Ross moved to immobilise Gino by kneeling on his back with one knee. He was a bit clumsy with the Civilian and Jim went over and adjusted his grip before letting Ross strike down. He was more power than accuracy though and Gino made a strangled whining noise as the blade cut deep but at the wrong angle. He was now down for the count, the two deep lacerations to the backs of his legs bleeding profusely. That, coupled with the wound, in his side had knocked most of the fight out of him.  
Ross was now back up, the knees of his jeans soggy with blood and a thoughtful look on his face. 

‘How many things do you think I can I cut off before he dies?’ He looked at Jim. Jim grinned.

‘Why don’t we find out?’ he replied. 

**********

The answer turned out to be a lot more than they thought. 

Ross hummed as he puffed on his cigarette and hauled on the chains to lift Gino up a bit higher. He was dead now, the blood loss and shock from having both hands and feet, fingers, toes, ears and nose removed and Jim’s neat carving into his thighs making him weak to the point of death. It was only because Jim had kept dosing him with adrenaline that they had managed to keep him alive as long as they had. He’d finally expired about twenty minutes before, but both of them had been too enthralled with what they were doing to really notice. He’d been in severe pain the whole time though and the silence was marked now that his whimpering was gone.

Jim was sitting cross legged, Civilian in his hand. He wasn’t normally this messy, but it had been fun and he was now in a pool of blood, his jeans and t-shirt soaked in it. It had also fed into his sense of poetic justice. Andres had been cut into pieces and they were doing the same.

Gino hung from the ceiling, the chains wound around his chest to keep him upright. He was now at the right height for Jim to start on his left knee and he did, racing the blade around carefully. Unlike Ross’ frenzy, he was very careful and worked the blade through the joint. Its serrated edge made short work of the tough tendons and ligaments and after a few minutes sawing, Gino’s lower leg dropped to the floor. 

Ross came to kneel down next to him, admiring the neat letters that circled Gino’s upper legs. Jim had chosen to write his own words this time. It was in Spanish so Ross couldn’t read it, but he knew that it was something to do with Andres. He didn’t want to pry though and so he just moved in to sit next to Jim and started cutting away at Gino’s other leg.

They worked in comfortable silence, stopping every now and then to lean over and share a brief kiss before they went back to what they were doing. Ross got up again, popping his back before he helped Jim up and they regarded their handiwork. 

‘I think it’s missing something.’ Jim had a wicked twinkle in his eye and Ross laughed. He’d been awfully restrained but now of course it was time for him to let loose.

He used his knife to cut the t-shirt away from Gino’s body and then plunged the blade in just below the sternum, bringing it down in a long stroke that cut him open to the top if his pubic bone. Because he was mostly drained of blood now, the organs were less messy to handle, and still warm. He worked efficiently, all his time with Jim having perfected his craft. He separated the liver and intestines, and they fell in a slithery pile around his feet. The stomach, pancreas and spleen were next, then the kidneys from their little pockets at the back. He nodded at Jim and Jim lit another cigarette from the pack on the small crate they had bought down for just that purpose. He came over and stuck it in Ross’ mouth, one blood slick hand trailing across Ross’ lower back. Unlike Jim, he’d taken his t-shirt off and practically rolled around in Gino’s blood so he was a tacky mess, his curls matted together. 

He inhaled and held out a hand. Jim took the combat knife and traded it out for the Civilian. It was tough enough that it could cut through the cartilage easily enough and Ross was strong so he was able to pry the ribs apart and then get into the chest cavity. He cut out Gino’s heart, grinning as he chucked it at Jim. 

Jim caught it and gave him a look that said Ross was going to be in trouble later. 

When he was finally done, Gino was a hollow shell of what he’d been before. They took him down and spent another two hours cutting the rest of him into pieces and then wrapping him up in black plastic bags and sealing them with duct tape. It made disposal neater and they took the bits off the platform and onto the track. There was a hole in the ground at the far end and they threw the parts into it, the smell ripe and making Ross’ nose twitch. 

Once they were done, they went back upstairs and got the buckets and industrial strength cleaner that was used at actual crime scenes. It was normally only sold under license but anything was for sale without a paper trail if you knew the right people and had enough money. Ross had learned that. 

They cleaned up, and took everything back upstairs before tending to themselves. The shower was longer than usual, both of them now tired and emotionally drained. They got redressed and headed back up to the truck and Ross took the wheel. He knew that Jim was tired, could see it in the slope of his shoulders and the shadows under his eyes. 

‘You want anything?’ he asked and Jim shook his head. It was now nearly four in the morning, but it was Sunday and that meant sleeping in late. Because Jana had the lads for the evening there was no issue with little bodies waking them up. 

‘I just want to go to bed.’ He was leaning on one hand and looking out the window and Ross could see he was a thousand miles away, probably sitting in the sun with another dark-eyed boy. He held his tongue, knowing that this night had been the final stage in Jim’s reconciliation and that it was no slight on him that his husband was distracted. 

They got to the apartment and Ross parked the truck. He got out and locked the doors once Jim was on the sidewalk, then took his hand and led him up the stairs to the front door. Jim leaned against him while he unlocked it and herded him inside their apartment. 

Ross took off his coat and gloves and then looked at Jim. 

‘Upstairs.’ He instructed. ‘Bath and bed.’ 

‘I’ve already had a shower.’ Jim pointed out with a small smile. 

‘I know.’ Ross said, peeling him out of his coat. ‘But you’re exhausted. You could do with lying in overheated water for a bit.’ He hung the coat up and then gave Jim a gentle shove. ‘Go on. I’ll catch up with you.’

Jim started up the stairs, footfalls heavy. Ross watched him go and then went into the living room. He passed the wall display that held his glass eyes, a suitable and far more appropriate trophy, and went to the kitchen. He made them each a tall rum and coke, going heavy on the rum. Then he made up a pitcher and juggled all three as he went back upstairs. 

There was the sound of water filling the bathtub when he walked into the bedroom. Jim was taking off his boots. He had the first one off and looked up and smiled gratefully at Ross as he took the drink from him. 

‘Thank you, baby.’ He drank down half of it and then sighed deeply. ‘I guess I’m more knackered than I thought I would be.’ 

‘I know.’ Ross took the glass back from him. ‘Bath.’

‘Christ, you’re bossy.’ Jim sounded grumpy but there was a pleased look in his eyes. He was not averse to a bit of mothering when the occasion called for it. 

Ross put the drink down and knelt at Jim’s feet. He picked up the remaining boot and balanced it on his knee while he undid the laces and then tugged the boot off Jim’s foot, chucking it aside before getting up and holding out a hand. Jim took it and Ross pulled him to his feet. 

The bathroom was filled with steam and Ross turned the water off and then started on Jim. 

‘Arms.’ He instructed and Jim lifted them obediently so he could pull off his t-shirt. He threw I ton the floor, ignoring the pointed look he got because he hadn’t put it in the laundry basket. Jim’s belt was next, then his jeans and boxers. Ross shoved them down so Jim could step out of them and then turned him around and guided him to the bathtub. Jim got in, sinking into the water with a happy sigh. 

Ross went back for the drinks and brought them in. He handed Jim his and then stripped off his own clothes and got in the end of the bath behind Jim. He moved his legs around Jim’s and drank, letting the hot water work it’s magic. Jim leaned back against his chest and Ross smiled at him as he stroked his hair. 

‘Better?’ he asked and Jim nodded, holding his glass in both hands like a small child. He didn’t reply, but Ross knew that there was something coming. He’d just have to be patient and let Jim get to it in his own time. He put his drink down on the small table next to the bath and kept stroking, working the water in until Jim’s hair turned dark and pressing in on the pressure points at the base of Jim’s skull with his thumbs. 

Jim’s breathing evened out as he drank. 

‘It’s done now.’ he finally said. Ross kept going, turning his attention to Jim’s neck. 

‘It is.’ He leaned in and placed a soft kiss behind Jim’s ear. ‘You okay?’

‘I’m okay.’ Jim drained his glass and handed it back for Ross to put on the table. He stretched. ‘I just need to process.’ 

‘It’s been a long time coming.’ Ross ran his hands down Jim’s flanks. ‘He’d be proud of how far you’ve come.’ 

‘He never knew what I was.’ Jim’s voice as low. ‘He never got to see me like you do.’ He looked back over his shoulder and his eyes were filled with something that made Ross’ heart speed up. ‘As much as I loved him, he doesn’t compare to you. You are everything to me.’ 

Ross met his eyes and felt like he was drowning in that steady gaze. 

He leaned in as best he could, the kiss soft and a little off centre. 

‘I would do anything for you.’ he breathed when they parted. 

Jim inhaled sharply and kissed him again, this time more demanding. Ross coaxed his mouth open and licked the sweetness off Jim’s tongue. Jim half turned enough to make it easier and they kissed until they were both hard. 

Ross pulled away from him and turned him back around, one arm across Jim’s chest as he found one nipple and toyed with it. Jim let out a deep sigh and arched back against him, his backside sliding over Ross’ cock. 

Ross reached for the oil Jim kept on the small table and uncapped it. He lifted the bottle and poured it down over Jim’s chest, then applied it to his hand as well. He replaced the bottle and then slid both hands over Jim’s chest and stomach, dropping kisses along the line of his shoulders. 

Jim went plaint in his arms, moaning softly as Ross thumbed over both nipples and then ran his hands down under the waterline. He wrapped his fingers around Jim’s cock, stroking him with one hand after the other and Jim started to pant as his arousal caught him.

Ross took his time. He ran his thumb over the head of Jim’s cock in slow circles and Jim started making those irresistible soft noises he adored. He was shaking just a little and Ross traced under the head and over it again. His other hand was back on Jim’s stomach, feeling the muscles flex under his hand. 

‘Fuck…’ Jim shuddered. ‘God, that feels so good…’ He whined as Ross tightened his grip and went a little faster. He bit down on the back of Jim’s neck, just hard enough to leave an indentation. 

‘I want you.’ He licked along Jim’s ear. ‘I want you to come all over me.’ He ran his free hand over Jim’s skin, the oil slicking the way, moving it between them and down until he could press in with one finger. Jim’s hips were moving of their own accord, and he pushed back down so Ross’ finger slid all the way in. 

‘Do it.’ He reached back with one hand at the back of Ross’ neck. ‘Fuck me.’

‘Turn over.’ Ross instructed and Jim did, slipping in his arms until they were face to face. This way Ross had more room to move and he took a second to apply more of the oil to Jim’s back, two fingers going in deep and easy on the next thrust. 

Jim had himself braced against the edge of the tub, his mouth inches from Ross’ and their eyes locked. Ross worked him open slowly, feeling Jim’s body give way to his ministrations. 

‘You’re perfect.’ he breathed. ‘So fucking beautiful.’ 

Jim blinked slowly at him, leaning forward to take Ross’ lower lip between his teeth as he sucked on it. Ross responded by going in a little harder. He hissed as their cocks slid along each other, so hard he was aching. He ran his free hand down Jim’s slippery back and then pulled his fingers out so he could lift him up. Jim moved one hand between them, guiding Ross into him. 

Ross felt himself ease in, an inch at a time as Jim controlled the entry. He had his knees braced either side of Ross and threw his head back as Ross bottomed out inside him. Ross took hold of his cock again and watched as Jim started to move, his cock sliding through Ross’ fingers as he rolled his hips enough to make Ross’ cock rub up just where he wanted to feel it. He clenched hard and Ross gasped. He got Jim around the waist with his other arm and then it got really good, a slick deep push and pull that made them both moan. 

It went on and on, neither of them willing to give this up. Ross felt like he was caught still, an insect in amber as the inevitable flood of arousal brought him to the edge, surfing a wave of love and lust as Jim rocked harder and tipped his head back. It was a blatant invitation and Ross latched on to his neck, bringing up a livid mark that would still be there the next day. 

‘Beautiful boy…’ It was the only sign he got before Jim moaned like he was dying and came across his stomach and chest, the deep seated tremors inside him tripping Ross over into oblivion. He came hard and deep, crying out against Jim’s wet skin until he was able to breathe again. 

They stayed in the bath until the water cooled and then got out, clan and blameless as they dried each other off. The ice in the pitcher had long since melted but they drank anyway until it was empty, lying in their bed and kissing until they fell asleep and the apartment was a silent as their tunnels beneath the city.


End file.
